Assassins in the Snow
by top
Summary: Konohamaru and his team are taking the Chunin Exams that are being held in Yukigakure, but when one of his teammates is targeted for assassination passing the exam will be the least of their troubles.
1. Going to the Chunin Exams

Dropping form a tree Konohamaru landed on his target easily piercing its skull with a kunai. The clone disappeared and fell the rest of the way to the ground. Making sure he still had his one kunai he sprinted towards the rendezvous point, hoping he had bought his team enough time.

Ebisu sensei had only allowed them one kunai; an exploding note and about fifty yards of wire each. It wasn't much but Ebisu sensei said they had to go through a worst-case scenario. So, they were low on weapons and were being pursued by a superior force. Ebisu had created thirty clones and Konohamaru had destroyed seven as he led them on a chase through the woods. That meant there were twenty-three left.

For a moment he felt a flash of anger towards his sensei. No one else had to take a test in order to go to the exam. Damm it his team had done two C-ranked and more D- ranked missions than he cared to think about. Besides, Naruto and his team had participated the first time they were eligible.

As the clearing came into view he was glad that the three of them had spent so much time exploring Konoha when they were younger. They probably knew the terrain better than most Chunin a fact that they had neglected to tell their sensei before he had chosen this area for the test.

His teammates came into view and he touched two fingers to his forehead protector. It was a signal to show he was really himself instead of the enemy using the transformation technique. Moegi flashed a victory sign in response. Channeling chakra to his hands and feet, he jumped from trunk to trunk. Staying out of the branches and off the ground was a safe zone. After all he didn't want to set off any traps prematurely.

"Catch," Moegi shouted throwing him a full weapon pouch.

Catching it he was surprised by the weight. Opening it he only saw rocks inside and glanced at Udon for an explanation.

Udon sniffed before answering his unasked question. "Sensei said we had to destroy all of his clones, but all it takes to destroy a clone is a good solid hit. The stones should work for that. How far is he behind you?"

"The main force should be arriving in two minutes. I took out his pickets disguised as you guys to lead him around the woods." He smiled pleased with his own cleverness, "What's the trap?"

Udon straightened his glasses to hide the pride he felt in his work. "Sensei will probably follow the standard tactic and surround us before attacking. We just have to look like we're not paying attention." He crouched as if they were about to discuss something.

Konohamaru followed suit knowing he could trust his teammates but not liking being out of the loop. He looked at Moegi from the corner of his eye. She was sweating and breathing heavily. Clearly they had used the forty five minutes he had bought them to good use. An inappropriate thought entered his mind as he thought how nice she looked right now.

"Now," Udon said quietly breaking into his thoughts. Turning Udon threw his kunai severing a wire.

This small action resulted in a wholly disproportional chain of events. The wire severing set off the three exploding notes, which decapitated a nearby tree. The top of the tree came crashing down to the ground tightening the wires wrapped around its trunk. The wires that had been concealed beneath the ground pulled upwards, cutting through both clones and weakened branches. The branches which had been weighted down with stones came crashing to the ground spilling their loads as they fell adding to the cascade of debris.

Silence fell and Konohamaru tried to figure out how many clones they had just taken out. He had heard many of the distinct pops that signified the end of a clone's existence but, they had come so close together he couldn't tell the difference between one and another, "How many?"

"Not enough," Moegi replied. She was about to say more when all three were forced to jump back as the ground exploded beneath them. Three clones reached out for them wanting to pull them under. Konohamaru jumped safely to a tree before pulling out a stone that fit easily in the palm of his hand. He threw it as if he was skipping it across a pond, hitting his target right in the eye. It disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hearing a shout of surprise he glanced over to see Moegi tangled up in wire and being dragged to the edge of the clearing. Drawing his kunai he jumped to her rescue. He was about to cut the wire when he saw a shuriken coming at him. Dodging the shuriken he didn't notice the wire until wrapping around his wrist.

The wire pulled tight cutting into his skin and nearly jerking him off his feet. He dropped the kenai into his other hand and cut the wire. He threw it into the bushes and heard a satisfying pop as it hit a clone. He turned his attention back to Moegi she had halted her progress by stabbing her kenai into the ground.

He body flickered over to her, rock in hand. The wire was like an arrow pointing at his target. When he threw the rock that was a satisfying pop and the wire went slack. Turning he was about to say something to her when she shouted, "Help Udon!"

Udon had been surrounded by three clones. A small log laid at his feet, a wire wrapped around it. He was holding his own if only barely. On the bright side, that meant that some of them had their backs turned to him and Ebisu's head was such a tempting target. The first clone was destroyed easily enough but the second one dodged the stone and charged towards him.

Konohamaru swept low trying to take out his sensei's legs. He missed and swung upwards. His wrist was caught and he was flipped onto its back the wind knocked out of him. As the Ebisu's clone hovered over him it popped out of existence. Moegi grinned down at him. He sat up in barest, just in time to see Udon dispatch the last clone with a small fireball.

Udon collapsed and Konohamaru ran over surprised to see his normally reserve friend grinning. "That was number thirty, we passed."

"Are you sure?" Moegi questioned as she ran up beside him.

"Yes, Udon is right, you passed the test." The real Ebisu emerged from the woods and he didn't seem particularly happy. "That doesn't mean you're going to the Chunin exams."

"What!" Konohamaru's shout echoed through the forests. "We passed your tests; we've done two C ranked missions, what more do you want?"

Ebisu straightened his strange pair of sunglasses giving off the impression that he was looking down on them before starting to talk in a condescending tone. "Yes, you have done two C ranked missions. The first was a convoy protection mission on which nothing happened. During your second mission, you burned down a building. You're not ready."

"Only part of it," Konohamaru objected. "You always do this. You said we were not ready for C ranked missions and we were. Okay there was a small fire but we were supposed to protect what was inside the building and we did. Besides you gave your word that if we pass your test you would let us take the Chunin exam. Are you not worth your word?" The one good thing about knowing Ebisu for so long was he knew that he held his word in high regard. If he promised something, he would keep it.

Ebisu looked down at them clearly conflicted. "I will suggest you but," he was cut off by a chorus of cheers. "But," he began again, "the final decision is with the Hokage. This exam is going to be slightly different, it's being held with our new ally Yukigakure and the Mist will even be there this year, so we want a good showing." He could have said anything. The Konohamaru core was already celebrating.

* * *

Moegi quietly slipped out of her family's apartment. She wanted to avoid any more advice from her family. Ever since she announced her team's nomination to the Chunin Exams she had been training with one or another member of her family. Even her normally aloof older brother had pitched in. The end result was she had one new jutsu in her repertoire and was exhausted both physically and mentally. If she heard one more thing about cold weather survival, she might have to resort to drastic actions.

She turned and ran enjoying the empty streets of Konoha. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and some stars could still be seen, even the most ambitious of merchants were not awake yet. She was a stranger to this time, the closed stores and abandoned streets made it seem like another world. She found the silence exhilarating in an odd way.

She was enjoying her run so much that she had at first missed her name being called out. Stopping she looked behind herself, "Sakura?" Moegi questioned surprised to run into anyone she knew at this early hour, let alone the kunoichi she idolized. "Why are you up so early?

"Oh, I just had some errands to run." She smiled at the younger girl who was giving her an expression that meant she wasn't buying it. "Okay, I need to work on my cover stories a little. Ebisu asked if I could talk with you before you left. I tried earlier but you are always so busy."

Moegi frowned it was one thing to have doubts about her own abilities but to have her sensei go behind her back like this. "So talk," the words came out harsher than she had intended and she regretted squandering this time she could spend with her idol. That was another thing she envied Konohamaru for, his idol actually spent time with him.

"He's concerned that you're just going along with this because of your teammates."

"And what do you think!"

Sakura blinked surprised by the normally docile Moegi's tone, "To be honest, I don't know. When I first took the Chunin Exams it was for my team, not myself."

"Do you regret it?" Sakura took a long time to answer and Moegi was beginning to regret her outbursts.

"That year," Sakura began slowly as if she was remembering something painful. "There were a lot of things going on. You remember, it was the year we were invaded and a lot of things were not normal." She paused gazing off at a point in the distance. She shook herself out of a trance, "of course, it was a good experience and I changed for the better because of it." She laughed without any humor, "I don't think that's what you're sensei wanted me that say to you."

Moegi smiled to ease the tension. "Would you like to walk with me to the gates?"

"Sure, it's been awhile since we talked hasn't it. So, what do you think about your team?"

She thought for a minute wanting to impress the other kunoichi. Back when she had been at the Academy she had peaked at the files so she used their comments about her friends. "Konohamaru," she began slowly trying to paraphrase what she was remembering, "is really strong and can think on his feet but he is trying to prove something and that can get him in trouble. Udon is good with traps and plans but he doesn't have any confidence in himself."

"And yourself," Sakura prompted after a moment of silence.

Moegi shrugged at the question. There wasn't a good way to say your average. At the Academy her academic grades had always hovered near the top of the class but when it had come to the practical stuff, her grades had been at best average.

Sakura saw her shrug from the corner of her eye because she smiled down at her. "I used to be the same way. You just have to find something you're good at. That reminds me there was something I wanted to give you." She took off a medical pack from her side that was far larger than what a Genin team would carry.

Moegi was hesitant to accept the gift. She had once snuck a look at a medical textbook and had not understood a thing in it. "Sakura, I'm not sure if I want to be a medic."

"Oh, it's not for that, although if you ever want to talk about it I'd answer your questions. It's just, the first time I took the exams. I wished I had more medical supplies. So, I just thought I'd give you a little advantage."

They continued on in silence until the gates came into view. To her slight surprise Udon was already there. She called a greeting to him and he came over. "You're here early."

"My mom didn't want me to be late, so she kicked me out early." He smiled as he said it but, Moegi didn't. She had met his mother once and she hadn't liked her.

The three of them talked for a while until Konohamaru drifted in with Naruto. He told them the story of his Chunin Exam and she faded into the background like normal. Other Genin slowly drifted in and she noticed that they were the youngest of the group. That made her a bit self-conscious because some of them were glaring at them.

Ebisu showed up a few minutes before they were supposed to leave and he made them check their equipment. A few of the other Genin seemed to find this pretty funny and she was pretty sure her face had turned completely red. They left in one large group as their home began to wake up. She turned for one last look at her home and noticed that Naruto and Sakura seemed to be standing closer together than what would seem proper for just friends.

* * *

Saburo quickly made his way through the almost empty streets of Kirigakure. He was running late and that was something his sensei would not tolerant lightly. Entering Kaguya Square, he looked around spotting his two teammates but not his sensei. Relieved he moved to sit with them not once thinking of the squares bloody history.

"You're late," Nami the kunoichi of his team called out as he approached. Her tone was friendly, but it lacked the warmth that it once held for him. He didn't understand or like the growing gap between the two of them but, he didn't know how to bridge it either.

"You're lucky, sensei is running late too. So, I guess that means you escape punishment this time." Yasuo, the shortest of the three said with a small mocking smile. "Sleeping in on the day of a mission, you will never be anything more than a Genin will you?"

Saburo didn't take the bait. He knew, Yasuo was just trying to start a fight and he would oblige just not when he was expecting it. Turning he addressed Nami keeping Yasuo in his peripheral vision. "You didn't get your hair cut?"

Nami grabbed one of her bangs that would soon be in the way of her vision. Normally she kept it short in the boyish fashion but they've been too busy lately with back to back C ranked missions. "I'll trim it on the boat."

"So you think were going on a boat?" Yasuo said jumping into the conversation.

"Have to be. If we were just going into the mountains we wouldn't need full cold-weather gear. There are only a couple of places that really require it."

Saburo had been watching Yasuo from the corner of his eye. Believing him distracted by the conversation he quickly drew his sword and brought the flat part down upon his teammates head. Unfortunately, he was not as distracted as he had hoped. The blow was blocked with his opponent's sword and with a sly grin the smaller ninja said, "Too slow."

Saburo retreated into the street as his opponent swept at his legs. Both of them dropped into a defensive stance but their difference in style was soon evident. They both had chisakatana which were given to all new Genin of the Mist upon their graduation. They were basically shortened katanas which made them more appropriate for their height.

While he held his sword with both hands the tip at his eye level like they had taught him at the Academy, Yasuo couldn't be more different. His sword was held in his left hand tilted at a slight angle and in his right his scabbard was loosely held by a strap that would ordinarily be used to secure it to his back. His scabbard had been strengthened with senbon making it an effective shield.

Yasuo's family was traditional which meant large. That was a tradition that went back to a time before the reforms where the graduation test claimed half of the students. The end result was he had six older siblings to spar with and his family had developed a unique fighting style. Saburo was almost completely the opposite. His father had died when he was an infant and his sister the only other ninja in the family had almost completely ignored him until recently.

This was why he was waiting for Yasuo to make the first move. "Guys, do you have to do this today?" Nami called out from where she still sat at the table.

"Yes," they both called out simultaneously.

Yasuo had turned his head slightly to answer and that was all of an opening he required. Quickly closing the distance between the two of them he slashed downwards paralleling the angle of his opponent's sword. Yasuo deflected the blow spun away from the blow and drove his scabbard into Saburo's side who grunted in pain.

He tried to grab his shoulder to thrown him to the ground but the smaller one of the two slipped away. Yasuo came at him again alternating his blows with the sword and scabbard until he fell to one knee. Yasuo pushed forward, grinding the two swords against each other in a test of strength.

Saburo let him push forward letting him commit his strength and moment while he prepared to move. The sudden lack of resistance made the smaller boy lurch forward and Saburo stepped into his defense spinning around his opponent. Bringing his sword down upon the back of the neck stopping only an inch way.

If this had been a real battle he would've decapitated him but, then again if this was a real battle neither of them would have reversed their blades beforehand so that only the dull edge of their shorts had been making contact with anything. "I win."

"So what, I'm still up by two."

"You're all idiots," both of them sheathed their swords as they spun to face their sensei. She held her gaze on them for a minute before letting it slide to Nami. "You for just sitting there watching these two fight and you two because you know just enough to be dangerous to each other. I could see it now. I would be the first Jonin to lose two thirds of my team while not even on a mission." She snorted in an unfeminine manner and gestured to the table, "sit."

They sheepishly went over to the table and took seats. Their sensei towered over them. "I've had it with the three of you," she began. "And besides there wasn't much I could teach you to begin with anyways. I've put you in for a Chunin test."

That last part peaked all three attentions. The test to become a Chunin in the Mist was simple in comparison to other villages but at the same time more difficult. A Genin team would be given a target to eliminate and if they succeeded those who came back would be promoted to Chunin status.

"Of course the Mizukage in his infinite wisdom has decided to give you a difficult test." She pulled out a small photo put on the table. The picture was of a kid probably no older than they were. He was wearing glasses and his nose was running. The big surprise was he had a Hitai-ate. Normally, the targets of these tests were mid-level gangsters.

"Who's his father?" Yasuo asked his tone cool and professional.

"His father was a member of the Tsujita clan."

The Tsujita clan was one of the few clans that still had a Kekkei Genkai in Kirigakure. Apparently, they had a natural immunity to all diseases, instead their body stored them. No outsider knew all the details, but apparently they could pass on diseases to a target at a mere touch. It was ideal for quiet assassinations. After all there would be no poison to test for, no accident to investigate. Truly ideal if you didn't want questions asked. The side effect was a constant cold which marked every potential user in the clan.

"Why is he in Konohagakure? Saburo asked hesitantly.

"That's where it gets interesting. It seems during the purification conflict a young woman married in to the Tsujita clan. Apparently, she was less than happy there and fled. Whether she knows or not that she was pregnant is unknown and not relevant. By the time we hunted her down she had taken refuge in one of the few places we couldn't touch her, Konoha."

"And her son became a ninja. So, we can now get to him while he is outside of the village." Nami snapped.

"You're almost right. You see we are in negotiations for a possible switch in alliances and if they found out that we had deliberately targeted one of their Genin it could be troublesome. Fortunately, we caught a break. He is taking the Chunin Exams this year and now, so are you.


	2. A Brief Encounter

Moegi's first impression of Yukigakure was it was small. They probably only outnumbered the Chunin hopefuls two to one. That made her wonder why such a small village would volunteer to host the Chunin Exams, but then she remembered. There had been a coup or a countercoup and Yukigakure had backed the wrong side and most of their leadership had died during it. Naruto had told them about it. So, this was what happened when a hidden village and its host country fought, she thought as she took in the village.

As soon as they approached the village there had been somewhat of an honor guard surrounding them and they were quickly moved through the village and to their sleeping quarters. She was looking forward to warming up for the first time since they had entered the country but those hopes were dashed when she saw where they would be bunking.

"It's made out of ice," Konohamaru exclaimed as the building was pointed out to them.

He was right. From the site it just looked like a sprawling snowdrift but the front of the building had been carved into the shape of a dragon's head. Its mouth was wide open beckoning them to enter. She smiled at the details they had included. Its eyes were small and fierce looking. The teeth were made out of long thick icicles. While the tongue forked out as if tasting the air, it also provided a convenient ramp to the door. Curious at what could be inside she darted ahead of the group.

The inside was beautiful. There was a diffuse blue light that seemed to emanate from the walls, but that wasn't what grabbed her attention. There was a fountain in the middle of the room. It stood fifteen feet tall when the waterspout was included. At the spouse pinnacle it just missed hitting the domed ceiling. Lowering her gaze to the pool she saw floating icebergs that have been carved into lily pads. Gazing around the rest of the room she noticed several hallways that led off the main room. Most had a symbol of a village carved into the wall above them. The other simply said training field, cafeteria and hot spring. Well maybe she could warm up after all.

They were hurried down the hall that had the Leaf symbol over it. She was captivated by the intricately carved roses that made the hallway look like a long arbor.

"Hey, I dare you to lick one of those roses," one of the older genin said to her.

"Why don't you shut up or I can make you."

Moegi blushed as Konohamaru came to her aid. The teasing didn't bother her too much she was kind of used to it. Of the nine genin team's from Konoha they were the youngest which kind of made them targets for the rest of the group. The closest to them in age was a team two years their senior and most were a lot older than that. It had to be embarrassing for them. Fortunately, Ebisu grabbed the next room for them heading off the impending fight.

Considering how detailed everything else had been so far, the inside of the room was a bit of a letdown. The room was small having three cots pushed against the walls and an alcove for the Jonin to sleep in.

"Konohamaru do not try to provoke a fight with other genin especially if they're from your own village," Ebisu exclaimed as soon as the door was tightly shut behind them.

"Ah, come on I was just going to use the Sexy: Double Knockout Girls Technique on them. Besides they've been picking on us since we left Konoha, it's getting irritating."

"With every word you say you show why, you are not ready to take this exam and don't use that perverted technique."

Moegi sensing an argument about to begin tried to head it off. "I'm going to the hot springs to warm up, anyone want to join me?"

Luckily the promise of warmth distracted the two from their argument and soon they were preparing to go. Udon had to be reluctantly pulled along by both her and Konohamaru. Unfortunately, the hot springs weren't coed so, she had to separate from her friends, which took most of the fun out of the excursion. Deciding to make it a quick dip to just warm up she quickly stripped as soon as she entered the semi-warm changing room.

Jumping into the hottest pool she let out a sigh as the warm water chased the cold out of her body. After a few minutes she was warm and bored. She wished that she could at least talk to her friends. There were a few other people in the room but, talking to strangers had never been her strong point.

Most people took an instant dislike to her and she really didn't know why. Her mother had always said that she had her priorities straight, which was why she didn't get along with all the other girls. Her brother had said she was too much of a boy for the girls and too much like a girl for the boys. She tended to believe her brother only because she had once had friends but by the time she entered the Academy they had all abandoned her.

In that way she was the antithesis of her two friends. Konohamaru was the type of person who everyone seemed to like. If he hadn't befriended her she would have spend her days at the Academy alone. Udon was a bit more like her, but even he got along with the other geeks and even has that tutoring thing going with the younger kids. He even had developed a crush on that girl Hanabi. That last thought kind of annoyed her. After all she had been chasing after Konohamaru for years and had gotten nowhere. That last thought was depressing.

* * *

Saburo awoke suddenly alert and prepared for a fight. As he remembered where he was the dream that had startled him awake faded from memory. All he could remember about the dream 

was that their test had gone horribly wrong because of a mistake he had made and Nami had died. His shirt was soaked in sweat which was dangerous in these temperatures. He sat up to change and realized he was too wired to go back to sleep.

"What are you doing?" Nami asked for her cot propping herself up on an elbow.

"I'm going for a walk, go back to sleep." He kept his voice low not wanting to wake the others.

She frowned over at the clock which read a little before five. "It's not worth it. It will take me almost an hour to get back to sleep. You want to get a little sparring in?"

Even though he had intended to go back to sleep later, he jumped at the opportunity. "Sure, I forgot it takes you awhile to fall back to sleep." He smiled as he said that showing that he hadn't forgotten about their first survival training experience. They both had been eight and the night before her brothers had filled her head with all sorts of stories. So, she had jumped at every sound. This wouldn't have been such a big deal but she kept kicking him awake so she wouldn't be alone.

She flashed him a hand sign that was not taught at the Academy as she put on her sandals. "Yeah well, that wasn't as bad as, I broke my ankle I broke my ankle." She pitched her voice high like a small child's as they left the room.

"I was like five and it was sprained."

"Yeah, _you_ had to stay off of it for a whole ten minutes." She gave him a little push and he smiled back as they fell back into their familiar pattern.

Unlike the hot springs the training fields were outside and a gust of wind showed them how warm it was inside in comparison. Not that either of them showed its effect. When they made it to the second stage they would be spending entire nights out here.

The training field wasn't anything special. Mostly they were bare circles of earth surrounded by snow. When he stepped on the ground he found it to be as hard as cement. The frost had frozen the ground in uneven shapes they should've left some for padding he thought.

"You're not wearing your kakute are you?"

"What afraid of a little poke," she said it sarcastically but she held up her hands to show the absence of the rings. They were deceptively simple weapons, a ring with a sharpened blade on it but, as there sensei had pointed out numerous times most of the major arteries were not that far away from the skin.

They started off slow taking turns striking and blocking. Neither of them was taking it too seriously. It was a warm up and neither of them wanted to hurt themselves before the mission began at least that's what he thought. Nami has been concentrating on his right side and he 

brought up his leg to block the lower blows when she suddenly dropped low and swept her leg behind his knee sending him to the ground.

"Come on let's get serious."

Saburo smiled despite the pain of landing on some odd protrusion of frozen dirt. "Fine," he said before sweeping at her legs. She jumped back in time and then neither of them held back, by unspoken agreement they limited themselves to hand-to-hand techniques something they both excelled at. They fell into a trance like state, losing track of time their world shrinking to just the two of them.

They blocked blows and slipped out of holds with the effortlessness of years of familiarity. He was the first to land a solid blow to her side. She stumbled backwards but quickly recovered and with a few quick blows was able to hit his throat. It wasn't hard but he stumbled backwards coughing.

"Shit, you okay?" She came towards him hand outstretched. He only felt slightly bad as he grabbed it and flipped her over his shoulder and into the snow. "Jerk," she shouted from where she landed.

"Until someone is down, it isn't over," he gasped out the old Academy rule between breaths. Despite the danger he had broken out into a sweat and had to wipe his forehead with his sleeve.

"Well at least help me up."

"Sure," he said while offering her a hand, she grabbed it and then pulled him into the snow with her.

As he fell onto the snow she rolled over on top of him and playfully hit him in the ribs. "You fall for that every time," she grinned down at him from a few inches away.

"Can you let me up?"

"No," she said resting her head on his chest using him like a blanket. They laid there for a while recovering and enjoying the silence that only old friends can enjoy. "What did your sister want anyway?"

Saburo was caught off guard by the question before he remembered that his sister had stopped him before they had left village. It had been a bit embarrassing but the information she had given him had been worth it. When the Mizukage assigned a Chunin Test to a Genin team he tended to leave out small details. After all it was expected for chunin to gather their own information while on a mission.

"One of the targets teammates is the grandson of the third Hokage and has already mastered the Shadow Clone Technique. Consider him dangerous," he repeated his sister's words almost verbatim.

"Well that's good. I was starting to worry what we would do if they didn't pass first stage of this stupid exam."

He had to smile at that. It was just like Nami to give a positive spin on everything.

"Am I interrupting something?" Yasuo voice drifted over to them on the wind. Nami quickly scrambled off of him and he slowly stood shooting a glare at his smaller teammate.

"We were just taking a break from training is it time for breakfast already?" Nami said and without waiting for response ran back into the ice building.

He frowned at his friend's sudden retreat. She seemed startled but why? He decided girls were weird. Take his sister for example, up until about two months before he graduated she had ignored him completely and then one night she had come into his room soaked and muddy from a recent mission and had asked how he was doing at the Academy. They talked more in that one conversation than they had the previous year and now she had even broken the rules to give him some more information that he wasn't supposed to have. Sighing he shrugged off the mystery that was the opposite sex, he headed towards a cafeteria shooting one last glare at his black haired teammate.

* * *

Konohamaru approached the registration desk announcing who they were and handing over the necessary paperwork. He wasn't nervous and if he kept telling himself that he might start to believe it.

The two chunin behind the desk seemed bored with their job and as one checked their paperwork the other pulled out a piece of paper from an empty coffee can."Your team is now number eighteen, don't forget it. Now go on in," he said as he gestured towards the double doors to his side.

The Konohamaru core blinked simultaneously at the bureaucratic way they had been handled. This was the Chunin Exam shouldn't it be more official or at least meaningful? Udon was the first to recover and pulled his two friends to the doors.

"Remember we agreed not to draw any attention to ourselves." He gave a meaningful glance at Konohamaru who didn't understand why.

Opening the twin doors a wave of heat and noise hit them. A quick glance around the room showed that it was packed with chunin hopefuls. Every single one of them seemed to be older than them by several years. The ones closest to the doors turned to get a look at their new 

competition. Most turned away after a quick glance but a few smirk and nudge their teammates. Konohamaru could almost feel his face turn red with embarrassment as he opened his mouth to tell them all off, Udon was knocked into him.

"Oh sorry, did I get any on you?" A kid smaller than they were had bumped into Udon spilling his drink over his poncho and shirt.

"I'm fine," Udon waved off his offer of assistance.

"Well, I'm sorry for bumping into you like that. I guess I'm a bit nervous," he laughed nervously. "It's my first time doing this. My name is Yasuo by the way."

They introduced themselves, secretly glad to find someone more nervous than they were. In an attempt to be friendly Moegi added, "I'm glad there's another team here around our age."

"Well I think I saw a team from Waterfall about our age, but I haven't seen them since." Yasuo smiled and shrugged.

For the first time Konohamaru noticed what village he was from, "you're from Kirigakure?"

"Yep, there's about a half-dozen of our teams here. Don't bother asking me about them though; they're all strangers to me. Now why don't you tell me a little about your teams?" The way he said it showed he wasn't serious. "Well I got to get back to my team. I will see you later." He ran off as quickly as he came quickly disappearing in the forest of giants.

"Well I didn't think there was anyone like that in Kirigakure," Moegi said as she turned to Udon. "You okay?"

"He didn't get much on me and black doesn't really stain." Udon smiled weakly and sniffed.

Konohamaru tuned out the rest of his friends conversation and stared up at the ceiling which was about twenty feet above his head. This room was huge and it wasn't until he noticed ropes tied to the wall that he figured out what this room was for. It was for indoor training. He smiled to himself apparently even Snow Ninja didn't always like the cold either.

A moment later there was a loud bang and a puff of smoke from the ceiling. It slowly dissipated to reveal several ninja hanging from the ceiling. The only one not wearing a mask spoke in a booming voice, "the first stage of your exam has begun. My name is Tenchi and I shall be overseeing your exams. You are to follow my rules, anyone who does not will fail this exam," he paused to let that sink in.

"Now," he began in a quieter tone. "You were all given a number when you registered those numbers correspond to a cubicle along these walls," he gestured to encompass the room," get to yours."

There was a scurry of movement and the Konohamaru core was almost the last to find their assigned cubicle. It had a large number eighteen over but it had taken them a while to cross the room. The three of them could easily stand shoulder to shoulder in it although for some of the older participants was probably cramped. On either side were wooden panels cutting them off from their neighbors.

The Examiner Tenchi dropped from the ceiling and continued his speech. "This exam is designed to test your occupation skills. As chunin you will be expected to have the ability to size up an opponent. So, I have planted four teams of fake genin and it is your job to find two of them without leaving your cubicle or talking to any other teams. We are handing out papers now write down your answers on it"

His last sentence was almost drowned out by a cacophony of shouts and complaints Konohamaru's voice among them. The Examiner stood there for a minute allowing the insults and complaints be hurled at him before booming out, "Did I mention you have ten minutes and it starts now."

That cut off most of the complaints and sent Konohamaru mind racing. From their cubicle they could see the other end of the room and a little more than half of the cubicles to their right. On the left side they could only see those closest to them. How exactly could you find a fake genin anyways? Genjutsu, no that was too simple besides, a quick test showed that wasn't the case. Maybe there Hitai-ate? No, they couldn't see them from this distance.

He glanced over at his teammates hoping they had some sort of idea, but Moegi was looking at him for ideas. Udon look like he was concentrating but he had his eyes closed like he was working out a complicated math problem in his head, it was best not to disturb him.

"Any ideas Moegi?" Konohamaru asked quietly.

"No, maybe we can switch our paper with another team when we get them."

He thought about that for a minute, but without knowing how they would collect them he couldn't see a way of doing it. Besides if they switched papers with someone who also had no idea what the correct answer was, it wouldn't help them. Any hope of switching papers was dashed as soon as he received theirs. It only had two blank lines large enough for a number to be written on each. There was a faded eighteen in the corner which eliminated the possibility of switching papers.

Minutes went by and the Examiner called out, "one minute left." Konohamaru was about to just guess when Udon grab the paper out of his hand and quickly wrote down four numbers. He was about to ask how he knew when the Examiner called out, "Time's up. Your papers will be collected in a minute and no talking even among your teammates until I say otherwise."

Konohamaru suddenly wished he was telepathic so he could get the information out of Udon. The papers were collected by Tenchi's assistant and brought to him in the center of the room. "If I call out your team's number leave through that door and follow any instructions given to you."

The man slowly and methodically began flipping through the papers occasionally calling out a number in no chronological order. Four, twenty-one, seven every time he finished with a paper he dropped it to the floor like it was trash. He was dropping more papers than he was calling out but whether the people being told to leave had passed or failed was unknown.

Moegi was chewing on her nails, a nervous habit she hadn't done in months. He tried to take solace in the fact that you Udon seemed calm, but his friend probably won't make a noise if he was on fire.

"Eighteen," the Examiner's voice emotionless giving no hint of the fate he was sending them to. Part of Konohamaru wanted to demand an answer here and now but Moegi turned to him for support so he gave her a confident grin. It was a very long walk across the room; he could feel everybody's eyes on the three of them. A chunin held the door open for them pointing them outside.

As soon as they stepped outside a cold wind took their breath away and Konohamaru realized he had broken into a sweat while in the building. Another chunin pointed them to where the other genin were mulling around. There seemed to be a chunin leaning against a post watching the group. Nobody spoke but every time another team came out they were scrutinized as if they held secret information.

Eventually teams stopped coming out and the fear he had been feeling started to turn to anger. Why couldn't they just tell them if they had passed or failed? They had to have passed, right? So why drag it out like this.

Finally, there was a puff of smoke and Tenchi appeared on the post his assistants in front of him like they were an honor guard. Somebody shouted, "What the hell is going on."

Tenchi almost gave him a sympathetic look, "you were so close team twenty-two, but you broke my rules go back to the barracks and collect your things along with the rest of the failures."

"What?" The guy who was presumably from team twenty-two and was probably in his late teens charged the Examiner shouting. He was brought down by one of his assistants.

"Since you didn't get it, I'll explain it to you. The first part of the exam was to test how observant you were and if you could extract information from that. The second part of this exam was to test your ability to follow orders in a stressful situation. I told you not to speak and you spoke. Now if you wonder why this is so important you've never waited twenty hours to spring an ambush. Now get out of here." Tenchi turned to the rest of them, "now if you will all follow me we can start the next stage of the exam. Oh and you can talk to each other now."

Konohamaru and Moegi didn't know how they had past so they went to either side of Udon, "so how'd you figure it out?"

"Oh, it was simple. From where we stood we couldn't possibly see all four fakes because if we could than somebody on the opposite end of the room couldn't. So, I started to think what it would look like if we were in another cubicle.

"There was only one cubicle there that could be seen from all angles, but if you were standing in that cubicle you could see only one of your counterparts. Once I figured that out, it was easy to conclude that there were fakes along each wall in the same position."

Konohamaru thought for a minute before asking, "How does that have anything to do with being a ninja?"

Udon straightened his glasses before answering, "Well if you think of the fakes as enemies. All we had to do was find their blind spots."


	3. First Blood

"Congratulations you have made it to the second stage of the Chunin Exams. From this point on there is a possibility you could die." Tenchi paused and Saburo wasn't sure if it was to let the remark sink in or had he meant it to be funny. "You will be given a scroll. Its color will either be green, red or blue. In order to pass this stage you will need two scrolls of different colors and all your teammates must be alive."

He pointed behind himself at a distant hill where a large orange flag stood fluttering above the trees. "Now for your destination, on the other side of that mountain there is a small town. It used to be a coal mining town, but the mine played out years ago and it's now abandoned. In the center of the town there is the headmen's house which also used to be the corporate headquarters. The building is surrounded by a wall and it has four gates.

"The scrolls you collected will determine what gate you may enter through. If you have all three in your possession you may enter through any gate. As for rules there aren't any except for the ones I've mentioned. Now the only dangerous things out there will be yourselves and the weather. The cold can easily kill you if you're not prepared for it. To add to the challenge the government will be experimenting with the weather so expect anything. You have three days."

Saburo tuned out the rest of the proctors speech and surreptitiously eyed his target instead. One of his biggest fears had been that their target would not pass the first stage of the exam, but here he was not ten feet away listening intensely to whatever the proctor was saying. It was odd being this close to someone you intended on killing. He wasn't as cool as Yasuo who could calmly mark his target and then have a chat with him, smiling the entire time. It wasn't that he was afraid of killing, he had done his part with those bandits a few weeks ago but, that had been impersonal.

Shaking his head he had to remind himself that these were targets, not people. Then he took a fresh look at them. Like his team they were all wearing white ponchos over their clothes. Unlike his team, he was pretty sure he could put a yardstick across their heads and it would be level.

One of them had a scarf trailing out from beneath his poncho making it look like he had a tail. He must be the Shadow Clone user. Next to him was their team's kunoichi. She didn't look particularly threatening but, her hair was an odd color and it looked natural. He had once heard that odd color hair like that only happens after generations of chakra manipulation. Whether it was true or not, he didn't know, but she could be a problem. Then there was their target who looked exactly like the picture they had been shown. He didn't look like he had a Kekkei Genkai that could kill with a touch.

Supposedly, he didn't know how to use his Kekkei Genkai, but that didn't mean he was stumbling his way through it. Well at least they didn't have to take his head to confirm the kill. That was the nice thing about the exam any deaths became public knowledge.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as one of Tenchi's assistants shoved a piece of paper under his nose. Glancing down he laughed when he read the first line. 'I the undersigned do not hold 

Yukigakure accountable for any injury, loss of limbs, frostbite, death or any other outcome of participating in this exam.' Signing the bottom he shoved it back at the man his teammates a second behind him.

"Cocky little twerps aren't you? We'll probably be pulling your frozen body out of a snow bank," the man muttered under his breath. He then pulled out a bright red scroll from a pouch at his side and tossed it to him, "you three head east until you find a post you like that no one else is using and don't enter the woods until you see a flare go up, if you do your disqualified. A rabbit will be watching you." He nodded behind them.

Turning they saw about two dozen rabbits behind them. Several of the larger ones wore Hitai-ate across their back signifying that they were not ordinary rabbits.

"You've got to be kidding," Nami muttered under her breath.

"Only one way to find out," he answered.

"Hold on," Yasuo said while watching their target from the corner of his eye. As the scrolls were handed out there was no effort by the proctors to conceal who was getting what color. Several other teams seemed to be loitering for the same purpose but, why did Yasuo care?

"Alright let's get out of here," he said impatiently as their targets left in the opposite direction.

They headed east, paralleling the woods followed by a four-legged unwanted observer. They had intended to discuss their plan at this point but, with something watching them it was impossible. Maybe the creature wouldn't report back what they said or maybe it wouldn't understand them if they were cryptic enough, but they couldn't really take that risk. Maybe the village of Yukigakure wouldn't care what they were doing but, they could also stop the exam or throw them out of the exam and secrecy had been stressed to them.

"Who would want to summon a stupid rabbit anyway?" He muttered under his breath at the inconvenience.

"Instant lunch," Nami suggested.

Unseen the rabbit's ears had twitched at the first comment, but apparently it could not let the second one pass. It stood on its hind legs and cleared its throat to only the mild surprise of the trio. "I will have you know we rabbits are an excellent selection to summon and are never eaten. Our hearing is perfect for collecting information," it twitched its ears for emphasis, "were small so we can go anywhere and because were cute, nobody ever suspects us. Our sense of smell is good enough for tracking and"

"I bet it's not as good as dogs though. My father uses them for tracking," Yasuo said interrupting the little rabbits rant.

The rabbit wiggled its nose in irritation at the interruption of what was obviously a planned speech. "True, but can dogs see in almost a perfect three hundred sixty degree arc and ride on its summoners shoulder? I don't think so…"

Saburo tuned out the little white fur ball rant. Yasuo had been unusually cryptic about how they would be able to track their target but, that odd comment about dogs might've been a clue. Nami nudged him and nodded at Yasuo who had pulled out a plain looking scroll. Was that a temporary summoning scroll? The murderous trio smiled as they all understood, with a little luck they would be Chunin by sunrise.

* * *

Moegi didn't think things were going too well. First off they had started the exam late. She wasn't sure what was worse the fact that Konohamaru had argued with a rabbit or the fact that he had lost the argument with the rabbit. It was ashamed too, she had thought the thing had been sort of cute until it started talking. Did all of the summon rabbits have such a chip on their shoulder?

Then there had been the woods. At first she thought it would be a positive for them, but unlike Konoha's trees the branches here were close to the top of the trees and densely packed making it impossible to traverse through them. The ground was equally dangerous, if they left any footprints in the snow they could be easily followed, which was actually what they were looking for now as they jumped from tree trunk to tree trunk. Dispersed moonlight reflected off of the snow providing them with an eerie illumination. Eight hours into the exam and they had come across no one.

It was hard for her to keep up a steady flow of chakra to her hands and feet. She was going to have to ask for another break soon and it had been only two hours since the last one. It wasn't fair normally she could keep up with her to teammates easily but, all this chakra molding was exhausting. To add to the problem the damn trees were so dense that an enemy could be within a few yards and go unseen.

As she leaped to the next tree a tree explosion knocked her to the ground. Hitting the ground she barely had time to protect herself from a hail of something's small coming at her. Her limbs were pelted with something that was hard and wet. For a second she had the odd sensation that she was in the midst of the hardest rainstorm of her life. Rolling to the protective covering of a tree the storm came with her pounding into the tree. Glancing down at her arms, she saw that they were covered in little red welts, a few even bled freely.

Scanning the woods for her friends she saw through the trees that Konohamaru was on the ground and in trouble. He was fending off his attacker with a kenai but, against a sword he was barely holding his own. Reaching for a shuriken she threw it. She didn't really expect to hit the enemy but, it did give Konohamaru enough time to get to his feet.

Creating two clones she sent them off in different directions hoping to confuse her own adversary. She didn't know where Udon was and judging by where he had been before the explosion he was probably the furthest one away. Suddenly she felt a wire wrapped around her chest and she was slammed against the tree. Struggling only caused the wire to bite into her

"Stupid girl there's snow on the ground," a voiced hissed from behind the tree. "It's kunoichi like you that gives the rest of us a bad name." Between each word her opponent loosened the wire only to pull it tight again causing Moegi's head to repeatedly slam against the tree. Fortunately, during her brief seconds of freedom Moegi was able to twist her body enough to free her hand with a kenai in it. As soon as the wire was tight again she cut it.

Coming around the tree she swung at the girl but her forearm was caught and she screamed as something pierced her skin. Her opponent brought her free hand into her side again and again until Moegi managed to catch it. For a moment they stayed like that. Then the girl grimaced and slowly began to move her hand down her arm slicing through the skin. The pain made her frantic and she struggled to free her arm but she fell to her knees.

"Nami duck," her arm was suddenly released as the girl rolled away and Udon appeared over her swinging a kenai through the air where her opponent had been.

"You okay?" Udon asked.

She nodded which he probably couldn't see. Getting to her feet she faced off with the two attackers. For a moment she was surprised to see the kid they had ran into earlier but, this was an exam. More importantly why were the two of them just standing there now? Risking a glanced over at Udon she followed his gaze into the darkened woods. What was he looking at?

"Konohamaru," Udon called out.

"I know," a second later Konohamaru appeared beside her and the third Mist genin slipped in opposite of him.

What was she missing? A moment ago they had all been fighting and now they had just stopped. Her two friends were still on guard as were the Mist genin but, nobody was making a move.

"Alright we know you're there, come on out." The tallest of their three opponents shouted.

There was a silence for a few seconds and then a chuckle. "Well, you got us," a booming voice called out. About twenty yards behind their attacker something emerged from the snow. Slowly it took the shape of a tall man. It was joined by a second and third. Then surprisingly a fourth one appeared in her peripheral vision. At first she thought they were clones, but although their clothes were similar they were all slightly different. They were clearly from Yukigakure but, that was all she could tell.

"Hey, isn't teaming up against the rules?" Konohamaru shouted.

"There aren't any rules here idiot," somebody called out from her right. "But, you did save us some time. We thought we would have to ambush two teams, but when we heard your fight we figured we could just ambush the winner. You really should have known that an explosion would travel far in these woods."

"So be good little genin and hand over your scroll," A feminine voice chimed in.

"Listen we're doing you a favor," another voice spoke from behind her. "If you became Chunin no one would take orders from you. So just hand over your scrolls and we won't hurt you."

There was a moment of silence that was finally broken by Udon. "There are six of them and six of us, truce?"

"Split their scrolls," one of the Mist team suggested.

With a nod all six turned to fight their new opponents. Moegi targeted the first one away from her and prepared to use her new Jutsu. She positioned herself so that there was a tree a short jump behind her and tried to look scared. It wasn't hard considering that the person charging at her was huge. Her family had a talent for Genjutsu but, she was always nervous when using any Jutsu in battle no matter how basic it was.

Flashing through a quick series of hand signs she finished just as her opponent was less than two meters away, jumping backward she landed next to the side of the tree. Her opponent continued running right up to the point where he crashed into said tree. She couldn't help but smile. It was a simple Genjutsu. It simply messed with an opponent's sense of depth combined with a simple allusion of her. It was a shame that it only worked for a few seconds.

Rebounding off of the tree she brought her foot into his knee and for good measure brought her hand into his throat as he fell. For a second she thought he might be dead. Then she noticed a slight hissing as he breathed through the blood that was pouring out his nose. Then she noticed a blue scroll tucked into his belt. Grabbing it she looked around to see if either of her teammates needed help.

From where the Mist team was fighting there was a scream of pain followed by another, both sounded as if they came from older teenagers. Spotting Udon engaged in hand-to-hand combat against an older Kunoichi she moved quickly behind her. She took her out with a blow to the back of the head. A moment later Konohamaru appeared next to them grinning when he saw the scroll that was still in her hand. He was sporting a nasty cut on his arm but other than that he looked fine.

"You okay over here," Yasuo called out appearing out of nowhere.

"Yeah, we got a scroll, you?" Konohamaru asked.

"Yeah, ours is blue too. Well I guess this means we'll be seeing you again." With that he turned and walked away.

* * *

Konohamaru wished he had paid more attention in those first aid classes at the Academy. Still all things considered they weren't doing so badly. They were less than twelve hours into the exam and they already had their scrolls. After their brief fight they had fled in the general direction of the orange flag but, they had to stop to apply some more permanent bandages. Udon wasn't hurt and the scratch on his arm was hardly worth the trouble. Moegi though had gotten the worst of them all. Her wounds weren't as serious as the blood made them look but, the gash on her arm look painful thankfully it was narrow. He winced in sympathy as Udon patched her up as best as he could.

Now they just had to make it to the village and through the gate, then on to the third stage. This was almost as easy as Naruto had made it sound. Now all they had to do was hurry up and get to the village before anyone else could set up an ambush. That had been their plane B if they hadn't found any one after the first day.

Glancing up at the still visible orange flag he said the first thing that came to his mind trying to fill the silence, "I think we can make it to the village by morning."

"No we can't," Udon's objection quietly but firmly.

Konohamaru blinked in surprise, Udon normally didn't disagree with him. "Why not?" He demanded.

"I'm tired, Moegi is tired and neither of us are in any shape for another battle. Besides that looks like a storm," Udon gestured behind him.

Turning Konohamaru looked up into the sky. Previously the night had been crisp and clear. The sky had shown with hundreds of stars, more than Konoha sky ever did, but now there was darkness on the horizon. It hadn't blocked out the moon yet, which was why he hadn't noticed.

Silently he cursed his luck. Ebisu sensei had forced them to learn a lot about this country before they came here. Most storms would only last between two and ten hours, but they could cause a complete whiteout. The only thing they could do if that happened was hunker down and wait the storm out. "Maybe it will…" he cut himself off as he thought he saw something in the woods behind his friends. "Get down!"

Dozens of shurikens smashed into the tree that Udon and Moegi had just been leaning against. He ducked to the ground too, but nothing came his way. Scanning the woods he barely made out a figure starting from tree to tree slowly advancing towards them. He wouldn't have noticed the 

girl if her shadow hadn't been cast in front of him. Her sword sliced into the snow where he had just been.

Coming up he blocked another blow to his stomach with a kenai. She flipped her blade and spun into his defense, he had to duck and roll away to avoid a blow that would of left him shorter than he already was. With a little distance between them he got a good look at her for the first time. She was from the Mist team they had met earlier. Why were they attacking them? They already have their scrolls why risk another fight and so soon?

Spotting Moegi being driven further and further away from him he realized that they were trying to separate them. Grabbing several shurikens he threw them at the girl in a diagonal pattern. They were easily blocked, but it took time and he made a break for Moegi. Turning his back on the kunoichi was not a good idea.

Zigzagging through the trees he heard kenai hit the trees around him and one even nicked his shoulder. Ignoring the pain he prepared his jutsu. Most of the time he wished it was more like Naruto, but right now he would just be happy if he could create half as many shadow clones as his boss could. Unfortunately, two was his limit. Sending both of them on ahead he watched as Yasuo turned to face the new threat.

He dispatched the first clone by thrusting his scabbard into it stomach. The second one was close on its heels and he swung his sword upwards cutting it in two. For a second he was exposed and Konohamaru barreled into him. He had meant to stab him with the kenai in the shoulder or stomach but his opponent's brought his leg up into his stomach and rolled with the impact. All Konohamaru could do was slice his leg, barely.

Rolling to his feet he appeared right next to Moegi and for a second they faced each other like they had earlier that night. "You already have your scrolls. Why come after us?" Konohamaru could guess why but, he needed to catch his breath.

Yasuo shrugged and didn't even have the decency to be breathing hard, "If we take your scrolls we will have four. Then we can barter two away if we have to."

"Why don't we team up like those guys who ambushed us did?"

Yasuo considered that for a moment, "Well you see we have you here now."

The two Mist genin were suddenly eliminated by a fireball in the distance and that was when he finally realized there plan. These two were not fighting them they were stalling them. Udon was still separated from them and he didn't have any of the scrolls. That meant they were either planning on neutralizing him and then team up on them or use Udon as a hostage to get the scroll out of them. Normally, he would bet on Udon in a one-on-one fight but, he wasn't at his best now.

He made a gesture to Moegi to get ready to run and reached into his weapon pouch. With a quick flip of his wrist he threw two smoke bombs onto the ground and they disappeared into a dense cloud of smoke. Two figures darted out of the smoke followed by two doppelgangers. The Mist team confused by the two sets of footprints had to split up. Konohamaru had left an exploding note back in smoke and it exploded announcing to anyone within earshot that there was a battle in progress. It would draw in the carrion from all directions which was hopefully more than the Mist team would want to deal with.

Konohamaru and Moegi headed to where they had seen the fireball. He dropped another exploding tag discouraging any close pursuit and in the brief flash of light he caught a glimpse of his friend and missing teammate. He was on the ground barely holding back a kenai. Several thrown shuriken separated the two and they pulled Udon to his feet on the run. Throwing a flash bomb over his shoulder Konohamaru led his team into a dense crumbled of trees. Seconds later there was a bright flash of light pinpointing the exact location of the battle.

Within minutes several teams arrived at the scene of the battle but, by then both weary teams had made good their escape.


	4. Turnabout is fair play

Konohamaru gestured for a halt as he heard the sound of running water. They had run for a good twenty minutes and he didn't think they were being followed anymore, the trees had been dense and they had been careful not to leave any footprints. Besides if that Mist team just wanted more scrolls they would be busy ambushing one of the teams coming in looking for an easy kill. At least that was why he had made so much noise.

Approaching the sound he found a deep ditch. The stream was not large but, it was fast. A few rocks stuck out of it causing the familiar gurgling sound of running water. Jumping down he tasted it. It was good and surprisingly warm, not hot spring warm but, good enough. Taking out his canteen he drained it and gestured for his friends to do the same. Since they couldn't make a fire the only way they could obtain water was to melt snow with their body heat, a slow process.

"We lost them," he commented leaning against the opposite bank. It was slightly warmer here and seemed just as good as any other place to rest.

"I'm not so sure." Udon shrunk away as his teammate's leveled stares at him. "It's just they found us too fast the second time. The first ambush was a bit odd to." Sighing at the uncomprehending stairs he elaborated. "Where they set up the ambush, it didn't make any sense unless it was for us. If we had been a little to the right or the left we would've missed it completely. If we had been closer to our destination it would have made more sense but, that ambush was in the middle of nowhere."

"So, they got ahead of us and set up a trap." Konohamaru said shrugging his friend was over thinking things, again.

Fidgeting with his glasses Udon paused before saying, "Yeah, maybe, but then there was the second attack. I don't think they had enough time to follow any subtle trail we might have left behind. I think they're tracking us, somehow."

"So what, are you saying one of them tagged us with something during the first fight?" Konohamaru supposed it was possible but, it was unlikely.

Udon picking up on his tone looked away just like he had at the Academy when he had argued with his teachers. "Maybe they did it before that."

"Like when they were handing out the scrolls? They weren't near us." Konohamaru's tone was harsher than he had intended but even he was tired, they all were.

"guys,"

"Well they might have."

"Guys,"

"How? We would have noticed."

"Guys!" Moegi shout even surprised herself as much as her teammates. She blushed and looked down, "Do you remember how we met Yasuo? They could have done it then."

It took Konohamaru a minute to recover from the surprise outburst and another minute to remember what she was talking about. When Yasuo had bumped into Udon he had spilled his drink all over him. Could there have been something in it? There was an obvious problem with that idea though. "How would they know we were going to pass the first stage though?"

"Maybe they didn't. They might have tagged several teams and they just came across us first." Moegi shrugged losing her momentum.

"I think she's right," Udon sniffed again.

Konohamaru still didn't fully agree but, it wasn't worth fighting over. "Alright, if you're right they might come after us again. The best thing to do in these situations is to proceed forward until we find a good spot for an ambush."

For once he wasn't looking forward to the upcoming fight he was tired and glancing at his teammates he could see they were too. Looking upstream he noticed something odd. The stream was straight unnaturally so. It was like somebody had cut a small canal through the woods. "Why don't we follow the stream for a while? Will make good time and there might be a sudden bend in the stream or something else we can use. His teammates nodded in agreement but, Konohamaru thought they were just happy not to be jumping from trunk to trunk again.

They followed the stream for a long time and it was disturbingly straight. He was becoming a bit nervous remembering the importance of keeping the high ground. Still, their heads were below ground level and they hadn't even seen the canal until they had almost literally stumbled into it. Besides, the yellow flag that served as a reference point was coming closer and closer.

The stream narrowed and became deeper but, it didn't veer off course. When they found the source of the stream they figured out why it seems so unnatural. The stream was coming straight out of the hill. The tunnel opening was clearly man-made and Konohamaru remembered that they had said there had been a lot of mining in the area.

"How many exploding notes do you guys have left?" Konohamaru asked as a grin spread across his face. Each of them knew what the other was thinking without exchanging words. For a moment they displayed a level of teamwork that was rarely seen in the highest levels of ANBU.

Udon set up the Exploding Notes while Konohamaru ran the thin wire they would use to detonate it. Moegi helped him conceal it while keeping an eye out for their guests. They were done in under a minute but, there was one thing that Udon hadn't picked up on. The two of them stopped Udon before he could leave the cave.

"Huh," Udon asked confused.

"Well um, if Moegi is right you need to leave your poncho in the cave."

"And your shirt," Moegi added.

"What? I can't do that, I'll freeze to death!"

"Konohamaru and I will switch ponchos with you so none of us will get too cold."

For a moment it looked as if Udon was going to argue but he is growled out, "Fine." Turning he ran into the tunnel to ditch his poncho and shirt. Konohamaru tossed him his poncho as he ran back and he quickly put it on. Moving down wind they waited. Moegi and Udon watched his back while he prepared to set off the track and so began their long wait.

* * *

I had him Saburo thought to himself for the hundredth time. There was a crack of wood as he applied too much chakra to his next jump. He had been literally an inch away from completing their mission.

Nami glanced back at him, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Saburo answered even though it was partially her fault. If she had been able to keep that kid occupied a little longer their target would be dead and they would be Chunin.

"It's all of our faults." Yasuo added. "We've misjudged them. Every time we've tried to separate the three of them they've come back together. They might be covering for a weak member."

"That doesn't matter," he interrupted. "I say we try another ambush like the first one only this time we double team him." His anger surprised him but, maybe he was more annoyed than he thought he was.

"Heaven and Hell," Nami suggested.

"You two can do that I'll keep the other two busy."

Saburo hated to acknowledge that Yasuo would be better at holding off two enemies but, it was true. As for the Heaven and Hell thing it was something that Nami and he came up with at the Academy. Every quarter there was a mock battle royale. The winner would automatically receive perfect marks for the quarter so, everyone tried their hardest. The trick to winning was to form alliances and to know when to betray them.

The two of them generally made it close to the end. That was partially because they didn't betray each other and partially because of the technique they had come up with. He would bring his wooden sword down in an over hand blow which was the Heaven part of the technique. She would come from around him and strike at targets exposed ribs which was the Hell part of the technique. Simple but, effective only this time it wouldn't result in a few broken ribs.

"Is it bothering anyone else how long they stayed on this little stream?" Nami said suddenly.

"They're going in the right direction." Yasuo added but, he looked down at the young bloodhound he had summoned and added, "Don't forget to use your ears boy."

Saburo couldn't keep his amusement off his face. Although it did make them wonder how well this particular dog was trained. In theory dogs could not only use their nose for tracking but, their ears to hear the whistle of the air passing tripwires. A moment later he muttered as a cave came into view.

The three of them paused and the dog sensing this followed suit. With a few hand gestures Yasuo silently communicated with his dog which then sniffed the air and let out a low whimper before vanishing in a puff of smoke. "He says that the scent goes right into the cave."

"Are you sure he's not being thrown off somehow?" Nami suggested almost hopefully.

Yasuo shrugged, "If he was tracking a person smell then maybe but, he's tracking the stuff I spilled on the target."

"Which is?"

Yasuo looked away embarrassed and said, "Its diluted hormones from a female in heat."

"Ewe,"

"As interesting as that is we had to figure out what were going to do here." He said bringing them back to the subject at hand. "I think our plan just went out the window." The cave wasn't tall enough for an over head swing.

Normally, that wouldn't be a bad thing. They could just blow the entrance and call it a day. Unfortunately, this was an assassination mission. If they just collapsed the entrance there may be other exits and then they would have no hope of tracking them. Or even worse they might just be knocked out of the exam and when it ended they could be rescued. No, they would have to go in. They would have to go into a dark cave that was probably booby-trapped with their silhouettes outline. Yeah, that was a good idea.

"You think we can wait them out?" Nami suggested biting her lower lip.

"No, tunnels are weird, there is probably another exit." He glanced up at the sky," we'll wait for the moon to be covered before heading in. Have you two mastered the Waterspout Technique?"

Saburo twitched at the implied insult. They had learned that particular technique over two months ago. It was a C-ranked version of the Water Dragon Projectile Technique only it had a lot fewer hand signs and was a lot smaller. "Mines fine," Nami nodded in agreement.

"Good, we'll take turns then. I'll fire it along the top of the stream that should take care of any tripwires. Then you to rush in and every hundred yards the one in front will create another one to clear the next area. We'll use the frog strategy."

"Nami should use the Jutsu first." Saburo said. The frog strategy was an entry strategy that was used for speed not stealth. The leader and the one behind them would take turns using a Jutsu to clear the area ahead of any booby traps. That would put Nami in the rear the safest spot.

Yasuo shrugged and looked over at Nami who was glaring daggers at him. Looking away he watched as the cloud slowly inched over the moon. Now that Saburo wasn't moving constantly he could feel how cool it was. Each breath caused a small cloud to form only to be dispersed as quickly. His hands were becoming cold and he had to flex them to keep the circulation going. Eventually the cloud covered the moon and a darkness fell that was almost as deep as the cave they were about to enter.

"Let's go," Nami said tiredly as she began making hand signs. For a second the stream seemed to almost stop flowing and then a narrow column shot out skimming across the top of the water. It cracked through one of the timbers before she corrected it and sent it straight into the tunnel. Yasuo was the first in an he was a few steps behind him.

They were a good fifty yards in when the world went mad. An earth shattering noise deafened him as an unseen force threw him to the ground. He could feel more than hear tons of rocks fall blocking the entrance than as suddenly as it began it stopped.

As his hearing came back he was able to slowly grasp what had just happened. There had been a cave in. His mind was sluggish and he couldn't understand the significance of that at the moment.

"Yasuo not hurt, Saburo?" A voice called from up ahead and it took him a moment to remember what he was supposed to say in response.

"Saburo not hurt, Nami?" He waited but there was only silence. "Nami," he shouted starting to feel a clawing sense of panic.

"Nami, I think my ankle is broken."

Her voice sounded strange to him but he felt an odd combination of guilt and relief flood over him as he started to inch his way towards Nami. There was a flash of light as Yasuo lit a flare and headed towards them. The orange light the flare provided wasn't much but, it was better than the pitch darkness they had been in.

Nami was resting against the wall holding her ankle, eyes closed and poncho soaked. The former entrance was about ten yards back only now it was hopelessly blocked. He eyed the ceiling and it looked fine but, what did he know? This was his first cave in. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I was running into the cave and then I was here and I tried to get up but I couldn't stand."

He glanced at her ankle. It was bleeding but not badly at the moment he wished he knew more first-aid but, that had never really been emphasized at the Academy. What probably happened was she'd been thrown by the explosion and one of the smaller rocks that were scattered around had landed on her. She was very lucky if she had been a few feet closer to the explosion she might've been crushed. He suddenly felt very nauseous.

"If you can't stand Saburo will have to carry you. We have to find a way out of here." Yasuo said turning around from them.

"Yasuo it's over. Were trapped in a cave and I don't think we'll be able to get out of here without help. Maybe if one of us could use a doton techniques but we can't" He actually felt rather calm right now. They would be rescued after the second stage finished. The scrolls they had on them could be used to track them by the examiners and besides the village holding the exams had to return all the bodies. At least that's what he had been told.

"Tunnels have air shafts and their might be an alternate exit we have to try."

"Even if we did get out of here there was no way we could find them again. Remember they tricked your dog."

"They didn't trick the dog. The kid dumped his shirt and poncho a little further into the cave. I saw it when I ignited the flare. Besides you forget we know what scrolls they received at the beginning of the exam and which one they obtained from the Yukigakure team. So, we know where they're heading we just have to get there before them and if that doesn't work we can still make a go at them in the third stage."

There was a moment of silence as the two glared at each other. "Yasuo right, we have to at least try." Nami spoke up from where she still sat against the wall. He glanced down at her and without saying another word helped her to climb onto his back.

* * *

Moegi was the last of the three to come and gawk at their work. She had thought the entrance would just be blocked but, she had to hand it to Udon he really knew how to use explosives.

She jumped as something cold and wet hit the back of her neck. Wiping it away she realized that it was a raindrop. Looking up she saw that the clouds had completely blocked out the stars. "Guys I think we need to find some cover."

"Hum, why?" Konohamaru asked as the storm broke. For the first time in living memory rain fell on land that had only known snow.

The three of them scurried into the woods for cover as the rain came down. "Two o'clock pine trees," Moegi shouted over the sound of rain cracking into the snow. Diving into the largest one of the trees they fought their way through the branches to the center.

Pine trees were convenient cover, once they became large enough they became like large umbrellas. Only the most outer part of their branches maintains needles while there their insides became somewhat hollow. It was good cover in a storm. At least that's what Moegi had remembered when she had seen them.

She glanced over at her two teammates who were just dark figures moving against an even darker background. "They weren't kidding when they said be ready for anything, that rain is cold." She muttered rubbing her arms. That rain was so cold it couldn't be much above freezing. Then she remembered Konohamaru and his lack of a poncho. "Konohamaru I think it's time to switch."

"That's okay Moegi I'm,"

She threw the poncho at the talking shadow cutting him off. The cold air hit her full on for the first time and she wondered how Konohamaru had taken it for so long which reminded her of her other teammate. "Hey, Udon how are you?"

"Cold"

That made sense she thought, "I had an idea while we were waiting for them. Konohamaru can I borrow your scarf?"

"Hum, okay. Does anyone have a light?" He said frustrated with trying to put on the poncho in the pitch black.

She rooted around in her gravity defining hair until her fingers found the cold steel of the Senbon that supported her hair. Her mother had always encouraged her to conceal as many useful objects on her person as she could. In her hair for example she stored two halves of a Senbon along with several lock picking devices. As she pulled it out of her hair Udon ignited a small lighter giving them a little light.

"What do you want with my scarf anyway?" Konohamaru said as he finally straightened out the poncho.

"I'm going to make Udon a shirt."

"That's okay you don't have to do that." Udon said taking a step away from her.

"Were not going anywhere in the storm for at least a while and you're going to get really cold really fast with just that poncho on. It will only take a minute."

"Moegi right, we have the scrolls and there's still plenty of time there's no reason to go out in this. Besides we're all tired."

Udon sighed and removed his poncho as Konohamaru handed over his scarf. She started to wrap it around him like a big bandage but, she asked for the light to be moved closer and that was when she noticed something. Udon's back was covered in bruises. "What happened to you?"

"It's been a rough day," he said. "If we're going to get some sleep somebody has to stand guard."

"I'll take first watch and wake one of you after two hours or if the storm stops." Moegi volunteered finishing wrapping the scarf around Udon. The last thing she did was to use the Senbon as a glorified safety pin. "I'll need one of the ponchos though."

"What do you expect us to do then?" Konohamaru asked.

There wasn't much snow on the ground underneath the tree but, it was still cold. She grabbed Udon's discarded poncho and jumped to one of the lower branches before turning to say with a smile, "Cuddle." The looks on her teammate's faces were priceless and she wished she had a camera to immortalize the moment. "Oh come on you've had a crush on every girl in our class," except for me she added silently. "And Udon has that creepy crush on that girl Hanabi."

"It's not creepy!" Udon snapped.

"So you're not denying you have a crush on her?" Konohamaru said teasingly.

Udon slowly turned to face him and said in an intimidating tone. "Shall we discuss your love life?"

Moegi smiled down at her two teammates and climbed up a few more branches. Despite any misgivings her friends might have had they fell asleep quickly and soon the only sound she could hear was the rain hitting the snow. Despite what she told her two teammates she had no intention of waking them up for a change in shift. Both of them had done more work than she had so far and the only thing she could do for them was let them sleep.

From where she had perched herself an occasional drop would get through and it was ice cold. After a while she noticed that the branch she was perched on was starting to sag and she assumed that the rain had turned to freezing rain. Anyone caught out side in this would not be happy. She had to smile as memories of tree forts and secret bases came to mind from the not so distant past.

After awhile she got around to wondering about those bruises on Udon's back. Now that she thought about it they didn't look right. There had been a lot of them and she couldn't imagine how they could all come from the fights today so, where had they come from?

The two weeks before the exam they hadn't seen much of each other. She had trained with her family and so had Konohamaru. Udon's mother was a civilian and he didn't have a father. So 

Ebisu sensei had trained him and she couldn't imagine those bruises had been caused by him. Ebisu hardly ever let them spar with each other and never with him despite Konohamaru insistence that he could take him.

That left what? Than a couple of things she never really noticed before seemed to come together all of a sudden. When they had been ten Udon had been out for several days because he was sick. She remembered thinking how weird it was because Udon always seemed sick but, it never seemed to bother him. Alone she had taken him some homework and had met his mother for the first time and hopefully the only time. She had not allowed her to see Udon and had not allowed her even in the door.

Then she remembered other small things. Every time they would go swimming he would never take off his shirt and even tonight he had been reluctant. Come to think of it he changed the subject when she had mentioned the bruises. Biting her lip she told herself to slow down there was no way what she was thinking was true.

Suddenly a dark figure appeared on the branch right in front of her and she nearly screamed. "Konohamaru don't do that. I almost attacked you."

"I wasn't even trying to be quiet besides you're the one who is supposed to be on guard duty. By the way I'm taking over for you now."

"It hasn't been two hours."

"Yes it has. I have a perfect internal clock."

"Is that why you're always the last to show up for meetings?" She asked grinning.

"I may be the last to show up but, I'm never late. Besides since neither of us has a watch and we can't see the stars will have to go on instinct."

Her grin faltered, "Konohamaru go back to sleep you deserve it."

"So do you. You've worked just as hard as either of us and don't say you haven't. You took out that Yukigakure ninja and got us that scroll."

Moegi could feel her smile coming back knowing she couldn't win an argument when Konohamaru was like this. "Alright just be careful." For a moment she thought about asking Konohamaru about Udon's mother but, now wasn't the time. It had distracted her so much that she hadn't heard his approach.

She decide to keep it to herself for now but, as soon as this part of the exam was over with… well she didn't know what she was going to do. She took Konohamaru's former sleeping spot in with the residual heat from his body and Udon being only inches way she found sleep easily, but her dreams were not comforting.

* * *

Authors note: I will not be posting anything for a while. I have to acquire some new software to improve my writing so neither of my stories will be updated. It might only be a week it might be longer I simply don't know, sorry.


	5. Finish Line

Saburo decided he hated caves. After trudging through one for about an hour he'd be more than happy to never see one again. The only thing that interrupted the monotony of the stone walls had been the pumping station. That had been interesting. The pump had been large and completely silent. It had a single pipe leading down another tunnel which brought up water from unknown depths. There it pooled before spilling into the stream they had walked on.

They had covered a lot of ground but, not even the dog that had been summoned to guide them to fresh air could tell them how much further they had to go. It seemed a bit distracted, constantly looking back at Nami and himself. The reason for its distraction though was obvious. Nami's poncho had been soaked and they had switched it with the targets one. They had been lucky that he had pinned it to one of the wooden supports keeping it dry.

"Saburo do you remember Fujita?" Nami asked in a whisper from where she wrote on his back.

He glanced over his shoulder quizzically. Fujita had been a student one year behind them. He had been talented so much so that some of the remaining seven swordsmen had been eyeing him as an apprentice. If he had been born before the reforms he'd probably would've been picked up by one of them instead of sitting at the Academy.

There had been one problem with him though, he scared everyone. Some of the teachers had even referred to him as the next Zabuza and it had not sounded like praise. During one of the Battle Royale's he had injured another student so badly that they had to drop out of the Academy. About two weeks after that Fujita died in a training _accident_. "Yeah, why are you bringing him up now?"

Nami repositioned herself on his back nervously. "I've been thinking about it. Why did we get a mission where we might face up to three Chunin? It's a bit extreme for a test."

He thought about that for a minute and found it disturbing. His village was changing slowly although he didn't know all the details. History was not emphasized in his village and he had never bothered to ask anyone how things used to be. Although now that he thought about it Yasuo's family was old-fashioned. "You think they're trying to get rid of Yasuo? Ouch!"

Yasuo turned around and looked at them. "Are you getting tired?"

"No, I'm fine," he shouted back. "Why did you just bite me?" He hissed out trying to glare at her.

"You're letting your dislike for Yasuo color your judgment and missed my point. Which is things are not always what they seem."

"Did you have to bite me?"

"Yes, it was the only thing at hand."

"So, if they're not trying to get rid of him than what?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're trying to kill negotiations with Konoha but want them to walk away. Or they just want us to take out the entire team. Maybe they're just expecting more out of us because you two were at the top of the class."

She didn't sound all that convincing to him and if there was more to this mission than it seemed he decided he'd go with his opinion. Of course if he was right then Nami and himself would be considered expendable and he didn't like that. Then he thought about his sister and her strange behavior lately. She was pretty well-connected and she had already given him information they weren't supposed to have. He was strangely confident that she would've flushed out any complication in this mission.

"I can see the end of the tunnel," Yasuo called over his shoulder.

Saburo picked up his pace eager to get out of the tunnel and leave those thoughts behind. Then he heard something. Cocking an ear forward he listened. It sounded like rain but, it didn't rain in this country. Then he remembered that odd comment at the beginning of the exam. Something about playing with the weather and expect anything.

By the time he reached the exit Yasuo dashed his flare taking away the only light source. "It's raining. Going out in this would be useless we wouldn't be able to see anything. Might as well stay dry and get some sleep." With that pronouncement Yasuo turned and walked back down the tunnel before sloping against the wall his dog following behind.

Stretching out his hand he caught several raindrops. The rain was ice cold and he didn't think there ponchos would be of much help. "If they don't find cover we might be lucky and the weather might do them in."

"I doubt they would give us a promotion on a technicality," Nami normal voice sounded a bit off.

Letting her off his back she lowered herself to the ground staying off of her ankle. He hesitated before asking, "How are you feeling?"

"I might be able to walk on it but, not for long."

She still didn't sound that good to him and on a hunch he reached for her for head. Pushing aside her Hitai-ate his fingers touched her skin, it was slightly warm. He compared it to his own and it was definitely warmer.

"Don't," she grabbed his hand as he pulled away and placed it on her cheek. Feeling around for his other hand she placed it on her other cheek, "they're cool."

For a moment he was grateful for the darkness. He wasn't sure what was going on but he was glad that Yasuo couldn't see this. Still, the feeling of her callous hands over his own was making his face flushed. The contrast between her callous hands and the smooth skin on her face was kind of, nice. After a minute a thought occurred to him, "Maybe we should get you to a Medic-nin. They're going to make it to the third stage so, will have another chance at him then."

"No," she shouted yanking his hands away from her.

"Nami's right, a few hours either way won't make a difference with her injuries. Besides their low on weapons and we know where they're heading. If we get there ahead of them, we should be good."

"And how do you know where they're going? There's three doors they can pass through remember."

"We saw the scroll they were given when they were handing them out and I saw the scroll they got off of the Yukigakure team. That means that there's only one gate they can go through."

Saburo opened his mouth to argue but, he couldn't think of a winning argument. Instead he simply slipped off his sword and sat down against the wall to rest. Although he was tired sleep was allusive. After awhile he heard a rustling as Nami inched her way towards him. "What's wrong?"

"This poncho sucks. I'm stealing some of your body heat."

"I thought you were hot?"

"Yeah, well now I'm cold."

He threw an arm around her as she came close. She felt clammy and he wondered about fever. "You really want to be chunin hmm." He knew it was a stupid comment. No one wanted to be a genin for life but, he needed something to fill the awkward silence.

"Of course, I'm not going to end up like my mother."

That comment caught Saburo off guard. Nami's mother was considered one of the top assassins in the village. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to be like her. "What's wrong with being like your mother?" He realized that the question had been a mistake. Nami stiffened and he had the feeling that he'd just stepped into a minefield.

"You really don't," she cut herself off and took a moment to calm herself. "I suppose there's no reason you should know. Your sister climbed the rank so fast she probably never had to worry about it." She sighed, "If I don't become a chunin by sixteen I'll end up in the Black Widow program."

Her voice trailed off and with no explanation forthcoming he asked, "Which is?"

She pulled away from him. "Think about it. My mother is an assassin, one of the best. She's never been married and yet I have two brothers." With that she turned away from him and for a minute he thought he heard muffled crying but, that wasn't possible.

Saburo wasn't always the sharpest kunai in a pouch but, as he figured it out he was stunned. He hadn't known any of this and briefly wondered if this was what had been bothering her lately. It was then he made a promise to himself. Nami was his best friend and he would die before allowing her to go into that program.

This target would die and everything would go back to the way it had been. Sleep didn't come to him that night. As soon as there was enough light he went to the tunnel's mouth. Through the light fog he could see the village their destination. It was only a couple hundred yards away. He guessed that made sense, it had once been a coal mining town after all.

* * *

Moegi was awakened with a gentle shake. Blinking the sleep away from her eyes she winced as her body reminded her of every hit she'd taken yesterday. Looking up she saw Udon looking down at her. That meant she was sleeping next too Konohamaru. Rolling to her feet she muttered she was going to fill her canteen and tried to hide the fact she was blushing.

Pushing through the branches she heard a soft crack as the ice that weighed down the branches snapped. She emerged into a changed world. Most the snow had vanished only surviving in some small random patches. The trees branches were weighed heavy with ice and visibility was maybe fifty feet before the walls vanished into a grayish nothing. The sun added to the problem causing the fog to glow slightly.

Taking a sip from her canteen which was still full she wondered if the Ice Hotel had survived the storm last night. Then her stomach rumbled reminding her she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. The only food they had were survival rations which was a tasteless brick the size of a candy bar. Supposedly they had enough nutrition to keep someone going for a day but they had a consistency only slightly greater than mud. The thought of one was almost enough to make her forget her hunger but, her body's needs outweighed her mind's disgust.

Partially taking the wrapper off the bar she grimaced as it began to fall apart. Apparently it had been damaged during one of the fights last night. Grabbing one of the bigger pieces she wished she was old enough to take the Soldier Provision Pills. Unfortunately, the Godaime Hokage had recently declared that they were too dangerous for Genin younger than fifteen to have unrestricted access too. Sensei had tried to explain it to them once but, she had zoned out as soon as he brought out a graph.

Trying to take her mind off the texture she examined one of the branches. She had only heard of freezing rain before and was curious what exactly it could do. The tips of the pine branch were encased in ice and she could still see the pine needles encased in their ice prison. Curiously she tried to snap one of them off but the branch could still bend.

"You're actually eating one of those things?" Konohamaru commented as he came out of their tree shelter.

"We have to keep up our strength. You guys should have one too."

Konohamaru's face twisted into an expression of disgust at the mere thought. "Let's just move out. We can probably have a hot meal after we finish."

"You just don't want to eat one," Udon commented.

"I don't see you scarfing any down Udon."

"I had one last night after you woke me up. It's impossible to fall asleep after eating one of those."

Moegi briefly wondered if that was a design feature. It wasn't so much a taste but more of a texture that seemed to linger. Downing most of the contents of her canteen she turned away from her two friends. "Let's get out of here before we get ambushed again."

They set out with only the idea of going uphill. The fog obscured the orange flag but they knew their destination was over this little mountain. There were only patches of snow left so the tiring process of jumping from trunk to trunk was abandoned. The decades of snow had killed any ground cover which meant they could travel quickly without the fear of tripwires. Their biggest problem was the fog itself. It tended to make the trees look like people and she briefly wondered at this natural Genjutsu.

By the time they crested the top of the little mountain most of the fog had been burned away. That was why they could make out the town that was their destination. It was small. The largest building was in the center of town surrounded by a thick wall. It had four gates that led directly to the streets. Over the doors flew flags representing the colors of the scrolls blended together. The remaining buildings in the town lined the roads making it look like there were four squares surrounding the main building.

The three exchange quick grins with each other before starting the dissent which was much faster. In less than two hours they were at a clearing separating the woods from the town. Before the storm they could've seen if anyone had entered the village recently but, in this case the lack of snow played against them. Any of the houses could have eyes watching and waiting for someone to ambush.

"You see anything odd?" Udon said as they crouched in the woods examining the last few hundred yards.

Moegi squinted into the distance. There might be something but she wasn't sure. "I can't see from this far away."

"So, we're going to have to sneak then?" Konohamaru sounded tired he really should have a survival ration she thought.

Sneaking into the village was easy. The open field provided no cover but, the buildings were universally one-story and it was easy to slip into one. From there they crept to a location where they could get a better look at the doors. None of them had brought any mirrors to see around corners. Fortunately, the town had been long abandoned and a large shard of broken glass was easy to come by and made a passable mirror.

She leaned over her two friends to get a look. At the end of the street there were two doors one red the other blue. Small slots on either side of the doors showed where the scrolls would go. However, between the doors and them were a series of crisscrossing wires weighted down with exploding notes waiting to explode. They couldn't see much more than that, a large puddle was catching the light just right to create a large blind spot. After a few minutes they retreated to an abandoned building on the outskirts of town to come up with a plan.

* * *

Konohamaru was the first to admit that he had not been the best student at the Academy. There were just some things that he couldn't wrap his mind around. Fortunately his two friends balanced his weaknesses out and that's what made them a perfect team. If he had been stuck with anyone besides his friends he would've felt uncomfortable remaining silent during the planning session. Which had been mostly Udon telling them what to do while Moegi chimed in with either a question or a helpful comment.

Not that it was a particularly difficult problem in front of them. No, it was actually quite simple. They had a checkpoint that they could neither go around nor sneak through leaving them with only one option, fight their way through. He still thought trying to pass off a fake scroll to barter their way through was a good idea but, Udon had killed that idea thoroughly.

Opening the Demon Wind Shuriken he briefly wondered why Udon had been carrying such an awkward thing. Still, he shouldn't complain it was one of their few remaining weapons. Spitting on the ground one last time to try to get the taste of the survival ration out of his mouth he took three bold steps into the middle of the street. Pausing to make sure everyone had seen him he hurled the oversized shuriken.

It wasn't thrown properly. It flew more diagonally then horizontally decreasing the actual distance it could travel but, slicing through the maximum amount of wire before slamming into the wooden doors with a solid thud. As the wires were cut the tags exploded and in the confusion he created two clones before ducking behind cover.

The first clone sprinted down the street before triggering an unseen tripwire causing the nearest building to explode. Shrapnel from the explosion destroyed the clone causing the second one to starts its own suicidal run. That one made it to the doors and ripped off the exploding tag before being cut down by a thrown kunai.

They had learned everything they needed to know. The kunai had been thrown from the left and that meant there were probably two people on that side. According to Udon because they had so obviously booby-trapped the most direct path they wouldn't expect an attack from there. Instead they would expect it from the sides and position their members accordingly. Presuming they weren't incompetent though they would designate someone cut down anyone who tried to get passed the traps.

That person had just given away their location. It had come from within the building on the right side of the street. Running across the street he jumped to the top of the building. If they were fast enough the kunai thrower would have enough time to reposition before his team were at the doors. There were only seven buildings on the side of the street and he could hear his two teammates close behind him.

Landing on the next roof he heard a crack as the roof started to give. Deciding to abandon the roofs a little early Konohamaru rolled to the side falling to the street drawing his remaining kunai. The puddle was right in front of him and he was about to cross when something didn't seem right. He tried to stop but, that only caused him to slide forward on the slick mud.

Konohamaru fell backwards on his butt saved his head from departing his shoulders. At the same time somebody jumped out of the water swinging a sword. The figure towered over him and he looked vaguely familiar for a second. Then he bought his scabbard up to block an incoming kunai and Konohamaru remembered where he was.

He swept his leg out catching the enemy in the knee causing him to fall. Udon and Moegi jumped over both of them as he climbed to his feet making sure to step on the sword wielders arm. He turned to defend his friends as they inserted the scrolls. The third of their team shot out of a nearby house flinging a half-dozen shuriken in a wide arc. They weren't only aimed at him but his two friends behind him.

Konohamaru was able to block most of them but one got passed him and he heard a shout of pain. He was preparing to block the incoming blow when he was suddenly yanked off his feet and pulled through the doorway. The door slammed behind him leaving a very angry mist ninja locked out.

Turning to see who grabbed him but, Moegi was hunched over Udon. "How bad is he hurt?" He stepped to the other side to get a look at him. A shuriken was buried deep into his back but he was lucky. It was buried near his shoulder blade but if it had been an inch to the left it would've gone into his spine.

"I'm okay. It just hurts a lot." At the moment he sneezed causing him to grimace.

"Wow that was pretty exciting. I thought I was summoned because it was going to be a boring job." The voice was high-pitched and squeaky. He looked up and over to see a little white rabbit staring at the three of them. "Oh, you probably want a medic. I'll go get one stay right here."

At that moment Konohamaru decided he hated rabbits.


	6. Confessions

Moegi was surprised to learn that she had a talent for procrastinating. It had been a week since the second stage of the exam had ended and she had not mentioned Udon's bruises to anyone. She had honestly intended to say something to him after they were out of immediate danger but, things kept coming up. First Udon had that shoulder wound and she didn't want to upset him during the healing process. Then Ebisu had started them on a demanding training schedule that left even Konohamaru exhausted.

Mornings were dedicated to group training followed by a private training session with a tutor and an additional two hours of private training with Ebisu. She really wished her parents hadn't fronted the money for the tutor. All he ever worked on was her genjutsu and she really hated it. Besides it wasn't like he was going to teach her some super secret Yukigakure technique or something.

She could've gone on making excuses for her inaction but, inaction is action. That was one of the annoying phrases they had to memorize at the Academy. It wasn't until last night though that she had really understood it. They had been sitting around having dinner when she realized leaving the situation as it was would be the same as abandoning Udon on the battlefield. Not only did somebody have to accept responsibility for their actions they also had to accept them for their inactions.

Of course she wouldn't just ask Udon. Accusing a friend's mother of abusing him would strain their friendship especially if it wasn't true. Moegi would admit it was selfish but she only had two friends and she would do anything to protect those relationships.

So, she had come up with a plan. The first step had been convincing Konohamaru to switch private training times with Ebisu so she could be alone with Udon. It had actually been pretty hard to convince him but, Ebisu had jumped in and said genjutsu training was exhausting and after that he caved. It was a shame too she had liked the alone time with Konohamaru.

Now she sat outside the little cabin waiting for Udon to return from his training. The ice Hotel had sadly not survived the storm and instead they were given a cabin on the outskirts of town. It was hardly bigger than the room they had been first given but at least this time they had a fireplace.

Absentmindedly she toyed with the training device in her hands although she couldn't really concentrate on it. Temporarily giving up on it she leaned back on the bench and rested her head against the cabin gazing up into the sky. It was overcast making mid-afternoon look more like twilight. Large snowflakes lazily fell from the thick gray clouds. The weather really was weird. Sticking out her tongue she tried to catch a snowflake like she'd seen the little kids in the village do. It was harder than it looked.

"What's that?" Udon spoke startling her.

She forced a smile embarrassed that she had not noticed his approach. Following his gaze to the glass tube she answered holding the tube up, "Bun Ekitai no Waza: Act of Dividing Liquid. The idea is you're supposed to separate the water and syrup with your chakra. It's supposed to help work on your concentration. Want to try?" He nodded and she shook it up before handing it over to him. "Sit down the cold is supposed to make it even harder."

For a moment she watched slightly irritated but not surprised as he began to separate the two liquids faster than she could. "Hey, Udon what do you think of that Mist team?"

"We've discussed this. They only attacked us because they wanted to cut down on the competition. They knew what door we had to go through because Konohamaru told them what color of scroll we got off the Yukigakure team," Udon answered never taking his eyes off the glass tube.

"But only three teams made it through."

"They didn't know that at the time. Remember when Naruto told us about his first exam. They had to hold a preliminary luckily we didn't."

Moegi had not taken her eyes off of the glass tube. Just talking didn't change the steady parting of the liquids. Hopefully lying would. "So, what did your mom think when she heard you made it to the finals?"

"She's a civilian. I'm not sure she understands how important it is."

Did the syrup stop moving for a second or was she just seeing things? "Will she be coming up for the finals?" Since they were participating in the finals they were allowed to invite people to watch them.

"No, she can't get the time off from work. What about your parents?"

Udon was definitely stressed when he talked about his mother. The fine chakra control required to separate the two liquids seem to stutter ever so slightly whenever she was mentioned. "Um, no there too busy to but my brother is trying to be assigned a mission in the area so he might make it." The idea of having her brother watch her in the finals was not exactly comforting.

"You two really don't get along do you?"

"Not really," they were getting off-topic. When did she lose control of the conversation? "What's your mom like anyway? I've never really talked to her"

Udon glanced over at her suspiciously and unconsciously she winced away from his stare. After a moment he glanced down at the tube before putting it aside. "Why are you so interested in my mother all of a sudden?"

She felt her cheeks reddened in shame and embarrassment. That was a question she hadn't prepared for, but in the back of her mind the part that was trained to be analytical understood that as a confession. Still she needed to eliminate the lingering doubt. "Where did you get those bruises?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He stood to leave but Moegi grabbed the back of his poncho and yanked it aside before pulling his shirt up. Udon spun away but for a second she had seen the bruises again they were faint and mostly healed but they were still there. He glared at her, his expression unusually intense, "They're from training."

"Liar"

"It's none of your business."

"I'm your teammate."

"It doesn't affect my performance."

"I'm your friend." Summoning her courage she was able to meet his eyes and surprisingly he flinched away.

Neither of them spoke for a long time. Moegi could almost hear the sound of the branches bending under the gently falling snow. "Can't you just let it go?"

She was tempted to, so very tempted. It would be easy just another game of pretend. Still, it felt like she was teetering on a precipice. If she didn't go forward she wouldn't be a good friend but, if she did go forward she had the fear that she would lose Udon as a friend. There was something in his posture something she could barely sense that warned her she was entering dangerous territory. "No."

He fidgeted clearly uncomfortable. "Sometimes she gets angry at me. I don't always know why." Their eyes met each other's, "please don't tell anyone."

"Why" she forced the word out. There was so much more she could add, why did he want to keep this secret, why didn't he tell anyone and why did he let it go on. He was a ninja she was a civilian he should be able to stop her.

"Because I asked you to," Udon face twisted into an unfamiliar expression. "If you tell anyone I'll say you're lying." With that he turned and went into the cabin slamming the door behind him.

Moegi's vision blurred as she felt tears roll down her cheeks. She had confirmed the information but, she hadn't planned beyond that point. She couldn't abandon Udon but, he may not forgive her.

* * *

Practice kunai struck bokken before both quickly withdrew. Saburo and Yasuo circled each other both exhausted. The small field that they were using for training was crisscrossed with their footprints. They had spent most of their days like this sparring each other. One would do their best to imitate their target fighting style while the other would try to kill them then they would switch. Their sensei had claimed that since they were technically still in the middle of their own graduation mission she couldn't train them.

Seeing an opening Saburo darted towards his smaller opponent only to be blocked again. He was forced to withdraw when Yasuo tried to bring his scabbard into his stomach. "Enough," his smaller teammate shouted. "Let's take a break." Watching his retreating back he was silently glad that his teammate had suggested the break. Then he followed to seal the practice kunai in the scroll along with the bokken. Neither of them spoke.

Yasuo was securing his sword when he unexpectedly broke the silence, "I'm going to spy on the target you should visit Nami."

"All right," he was slightly suspicious of this uncharacteristic kind gesture but, he was getting what he wanted so he wasn't going to complain.

Turning to leave he was stopped when Yasuo asked; "Did you figure it out yet?"

"Figure what out?"

"Why she was crying in the cave."

"Nami doesn't cry." That wasn't true but he would defend her anyway.

Yasuo sighed as if he was a teacher, "I was less than ten feet away. I know what I heard." He turned around with an odd smile across his face. "Have you figured out it was because of you." Saburo cleared the distance between the two of them in the blink of an eye not knowing what he was doing until Yasuo was on the ground rubbing his jaw.

"She likes you," Yasuo spat out.

"What are you talking about?" Of course Nami liked him they were friends.

Yasuo slowly climbed to his feet and brushed himself off before answering slowly as if he was an idiot. "Nami would like to date you. She thought you felt the same way. I guess she thought you were just being polite after all what respectable kunoichi dates before they're a chunin."

Saburo was confused not exactly sure how he should feel. Then a thought occurred to him, "Why are you telling me this?" Yasuo was not the type of guy who did things without a purpose.

"You and Nami are close. You probably think of her as a sister but she's doesn't. So, until she gets over you no one else can date her."

"You're not answering the question," Saburo growled out threateningly. The allegation that he thought of Nami as a sister was bizarre. Even considering recent events his relationship with Nami was far better than the one he had with his sister.

"Because I would like to ask her out but, it would be pointless until she gets over you and since we're going to be chunin very soon. I want you out of the way."

"What," he laughed not sure what was more bizarre. The fact that Yasuo liked Nami which was just strange because he always imagined him as a eunuch or the fact that he'd just presumed he would screw up.

Yasuo frowned showing more emotion than usual. "It's not funny. Nami and I get along well enough and I come from a respectable family."

"I just never imagined" he made a gesture that didn't really mean anything.

"Don't be that surprised they try to put a female on every team hoping something will happen. Children of ninjas tend to make better ninjas." Turning to leave he shouted over his shoulder, "Talk to her."

Saburo stood in the empty field pondering what he had learned. He supposed his short teammate could be right. Nami had been acting strange lately but, it was just weird to think about. She had always simply been there for him and he had always been there for her. No thinking required. Then he considered the possibility that Yasuo was lying. There wasn't any way he could have figured that all out on his own. After all, supposedly this was all happening under his nose.

Deciding to just ask her he headed back to the cabin. She had been released from the hospital just the other day but she wasn't cleared for training, not that she hadn't tried. Unfortunately, her ankle was too badly damaged for a quick heal and worse she was fighting an infection. They had left her by the fireplace with a stack of scrolls to read through. To his slight surprise she was still there the only difference being she now had a blanket wrapped around her.

She quickly glanced up at him then back at the scroll and asked "How is training coming?"

He shrugged and then added, "Okay. I wish sensei would get off her ass and show us something new though."

"Well, we're still on our graduation mission. She is not supposed to interfere." She hesitated for a second and then asked holding a pitcher, "Can you fill this. I'm drinking a lot."

Taking the pitcher he headed over to the sink remembering that she liked her water really cold. Now that he was here he was suddenly hesitant to just blurt it out. Instead he asked about her reading, "Find anything useful."

"Yep," the pride in her tone was unmistakable. "I was reading the rules on the last stage of the exam and there really aren't any."

"So"

"So," she drew out "that means as long as it's done in a one-on-one battle its fine. There is no rule against laying traps in the arena before the test begins. As far as I can tell it's never been done before but there's no rule against it. We could rig a bunch of explosives and set them off in the middle of the match," she said excitedly.

Pouring her a glass of water he asked, "Don't they sweep the arena or something?"

"They might or they might not. I'm not saying we should rely on it but I think it's worth a try." She downed most of the water in the glass and he automatically filled it. "I want you to take a look at this. Sensei dropped it off while you were out."

She opened another scroll and he recognized a tournament chart. There were eight slots in the beginning filled in with names. He found his own quickly enough but, "where are you?"

"Well since nobody knows if I'll be well enough to participate I receive a buy for the first round and then I would enter over here," she pointed to the far right.

"That seems unfair."

"Yes, but only to me. You have to remember it doesn't matter if you win the tournament. The more fights you are in the better chance you have of been promoted. Anyway look at this."

He followed her finger to the targets name, "Yasuo fighting him in first-round."

"And if the target somehow gets passed him you won't be fight until the finals. That is assuming you can defeat that girl and trust me she's nothing special," she said flashing him a quick grin. The worst-case scenario right now is that Yasuo can't kill the target but hurt him so bad he can't continue or he's taken out in the second round."

"What about you? Who are you supposed to be fighting?"

She shrugged, "I think it's up in the air. They might even have me fight both of them back to back which wouldn't be the worst thing to happen. I would get a crack at the target or take out his competition."

"Optimistic aren't you," he supped a grin by changing the subject. "I wish we knew why we had to kill him during the exams it would be a lot easier if we could kill him whenever. You know my sister told me that her team eliminated their target while he was at a hot springs."

She looked up at him with a smirk, "That would be too easy."

Her expression suddenly faltered, "You okay?" He asked

"Yeah, am just tired all of a sudden. I think I have to lay down for awhile."

"Here I'll help." Functioning as her crutch he helped her to the bed which she immediately collapsed into. It was then he remembered he hadn't asked his question yet. He wavered for a minute wondering if he should bother her now and decide he should. "Nami you remember when we were in that cave-"

"Oh please can we forget about that. The stuff you gave me for the pain made me loopy."

Saburo thought he would feel relieved but instead he just sort of felt well he didn't know. "That's what I thought but, Yasuo was saying a bunch of crap that you love me and stuff."

"Yeah, that sounds like bullshit," Nami said burying her head in her pillow.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He moved over to the other side of the bed and kneeled down to be at eye level. "You don't sound okay?"

Nami moved in one quick motion he never even saw the pillow coming. "It's not like I ever wanted to like you," she screamed. "You probably don't even care."

Saburo sat up and stared at his friend. He couldn't remember seeing her this angry before and it hurt. It hurt and it made him angry. "You've been my best friend since I've known you. Of course I like you it's just you been acting all weird lately."

"If you liked me and I like you why haven't you done anything? You can't say it's because of the Black widow program because you didn't know about it."

It suddenly dawned on him that when she had said _like _she had met love. He had never really thought about her that way before. Yes, he did like spending time with her and he did care about her but was that love, maybe? "I don't know. I just don't know. What I do know is that I don't like this. I don't want to lose you."

"Well that's how I feel about you. You're important to me. I just kind of have been wanting more lately. Like after we were sparring and ended in that snow bank," she trailed off.

"I think I love you." Saburo's admission probably surprised him more than it did Nami. "I just don't know what to do." He handed the pillow back to her, "Can we go slow?"

"Yeah sure, my mom says I can't even date before I am a chunin. That's at least a few weeks away," She smiled tiredly up at him. He turned to leave when she reached out for him, "Can you stay until I go to sleep?"

"Sure," he took a seat at the head of the bed and waited for her to drift off to sleep. She had an odd smile across her face. Saburo wasn't sure what he felt for her but, right now he was happy."

* * *

Konohamaru would be the first to admit with pride that he and Naruto were a lot alike. After all with the possible exception of his grandfather there wasn't a greater ninja in the world. Unfortunately, like Naruto no one ever accused Konohamaru of being the brightest person. That was why it took him most of the day to realize that not everything was right with his teammates. They were not talking to each other and in fact they had hardly said anything all night.

If they were back at home he would just ask them what was up but, Ebisu was sitting at the table engrossed in their training schedule for tomorrow. It wasn't that he didn't like or trust his sensei but, it just seemed like one of those things which should be kept within the group. Unfortunately, the cabin was so small it was impossible to have a conversation without being overheard. So, he would have to convince one of them to step outside with him which would be hard. It was dark outside and the wind was kicking up again.

Throwing the last log into the small fireplace an idea hit him. Turning he said "Moegi can you help me bring in some firewood? Between the two of us we should be able to bring enough in for the night."

"Sure," Moegi's response lacked any emotion. Pausing briefly at the door to put on their ponchos he handed her the bag to carry the wood in. They trudged to the wood pile in silence and wrestled the tarp covering the wood off before he started the interrogation.

"So, what happened between you and Udon?" She paused and for a minute he thought he would have to wheedle an answer out of her but then she looked up at him and said something but, her words carried away on the wind. He leaned in closer, "what did you say?"

"I found something out about Udon."

That didn't make any sense he thought the three of them pretty much knew everything about each other. Well, okay he was keeping a secret from Moegi right now, but Udon knew about that. "What?" she hesitated again and he leaned in even closer.

"You probably didn't notice but, when we were under the pine tree I saw Udon's back. It was covered in bruises. That didn't seem right so I wanted to figure out where they came from."

"And" Konohamaru prompted not really understanding where this was going.

"They were from his mother. I don't think it's the first time either."

That brought Konohamaru up short. It was surprising. For a moment he's tried to summon an image of Udon's mother but then he suddenly realized he never actually seen her. That was strange and he supposed Udon wouldn't lie about something like that. "Why doesn't he just tell someone?"

"I don't think he wants to get his mother in trouble."

"We could tell sensei. I'm sure he would know what to do."

"That's what I was thinking of doing but, I'm not sure if Udon would want to be my friend if I did that."

"Um, okay." Konohamaru thought for a minute until an idea occurred to him. "I got it."

Before he could fill in Moegi their sensei popped his head out of the cabin's door. "Are you two alright? You're taking a long time."

He waved in response and quickly grabbed an arm full from the woodpile. "Let's talk to Udon after sensei goes to sleep." Moegi nodded even in the dark he could tell she was relieved.

The rest of the night passed slowly. None of them really said anything. Udon spent most of the night staring into the fire while Konohamaru tried not to think about all the problems in his plan. Moegi tried to read a scroll but kept glancing over at him. Udon went to bed early and Ebisu followed about thirty minutes later. They waited a while to make sure he was in a deep sleep before he stood and said, "Let's wake him up."

Udon was a light sleeper a fact that Konohamaru never really thought about but, given today's revelation, it suddenly seemed more sinister. Of course just because it was easy to wake him up it didn't mean it was easy getting him out of bed. That required a lot of pulling and some shoving to get him outside. By then even Konohamaru could tell Udon was pissed with them.

"Why are you dragging me out of my warm bed and into the cold?" Udon demanded glaring at both of them.

"You could've told us."

Udon didn't say anything at first but when he did he lied. He was never very good at it. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Moegi told me everything."

"She's lying," his denial didn't sound remotely believable.

Konohamaru could feel Moegi's eyes on him wondering where he was going with this. On the spur of the minute he decided to give her credit for the plan as it was. "Well if that's the case will just tell sensei and Moegi will get into trouble for lying," he turned as if to leave when his elbow was grabbed.

"Can't you two just leave me alone?"

Konohamaru shook his head, "Best friends look out for each other. Listen, Moegi only told me because she thought I could help. You don't want to get your mom in trouble and that's fine but, you can't stay there. My place is huge and my parents take a lot of missions. You'll be there a week before they even noticed you and will come up with a reason for you being there." He didn't add that he would tell his parents the truth if he had to. They probably won't be too annoyed with the situation. It would only be for a few years and they had always liked Udon. "Moegi would've offered her place but minds much bigger," he added after a second's hesitation.

"And if I don't agree?" Udon asked.

"We tell sensei."

Udon nodded to himself seemingly resigned to his fate, "Can I think about it?"

"Yeah sure," Konohamaru didn't try to stop Udon as he headed back inside. He went to follow when Moegi wrapped his arm to stop them.

"Thanks for giving me the credit. I never would have thought of that." She leaned in quickly and before he knew what was going on she'd given him a quick peck on the cheek.

Konohamaru had been kissed before and some of those had even been on the lips but Moegi's had felt different. It had given him a nice flutter in his stomach that he hadn't felt since the first time he had kissed a girl. It took him a minute to understand everything that had just happened. He had helped a friend and been kissed by the girl he really liked. The first thought that occurred to him he shouted to the world, "I'm awesome."

* * *

Author's note: I am borrowing the Bun Ekitai no Waza: Act of Dividing Liquid from Geor-sama story Shinobi Wars with his permission. If you haven't read his stuff it's worth a look. The next chapter will be the last. At least that's how its planned.


	7. The Finals Began

"I have heard some say that our village was barbaric and cruel because of how we used to graduate our genin. At least we never turned it into a spectacle like this."

Saburo glanced at Yasuo from the corner of his eye surprised at his teammate's words. He himself hadn't thought about the situation even though they now stood in the arena. "Yeah, but it's not like those were private, the whole class watched." History was not Saburo strong point but, even he knew about the small arena in the bowels of the academy that was no longer use.

"Fighting in front of your comrades is one thing. These men are here for sport." He referenced the nobles and others who had gathered to watch the finals.

Well not everyone Saburo thought to himself as his eyes traveled up the walls that surrounded them. A week ago this had been an open field but, now an arena stood constructed completely out of ice. The walls were made of ice blocks as tall as himself and stacked seven high. The bleachers seem to grow out of the walls and while the audience was certainly not seated directly on the ice, he couldn't see how they were comfortable from here.

Searching for his sensei he spotted her and there was Nami right next to her. He felt a nice warm feeling for a second at the sight of her and unconsciously he touched the kakute she had lent him. The ring weapon was ordinarily worn on her thumb but due to their size difference it had ended up on his little finger. It was still useable but, as she had said right before she kissed him for luck, "It was the thought that counted."

Unfortunately, her health had improved but, not in time to allow her to participate. Next to her was the official observer from Kirigakure. Since their performance in this exam had no bearing on their actual promotion this person was just for show. Still he wondered how his sister had swung the job.

Tenchi who had turned out to be the examiner for all three stages turned to address them after delivering a speech that had probably been heard by none of the participants. Lowering his voice he said, "I'm just going to go over this one more time. Two of you will fight each other until one of you is claimed the victor or incapacitated by your opponent. You may use anything either in the arena or what you carry in with you. However, I will stop a battle if a victory becomes inevitable."

He bit his thumb and kneeling down he summoned a rabbit which seemed to be wearing a pair of tessho on its front paws. Picking it up by the scruff of the neck he placed it on his head. Between him and me will see everything that happens in this arena."

It may have been his imagination but, he swore that the man's eyes lingered on himself and Yasuo longer than anyone else. It took a supreme effort on his part not to look over where he knew one of the traps were. Nami had set them up last night. They had assumed if she was caught they couldn't do anything to her.

Now he wondered if somebody had noticed. Was their mission found out? No, calm down he told himself. It was far more likely that they would assume they were trying to cheat in the tournament. That would explain the rabbit since it could keep an eye on whoever wasn't fighting and Nami in the stands.

"Alright first round you two," Tenchi pointed to their target and Yasuo "everybody else upstairs."

The two Mist genin eyes met sharing a glance. Yasuo nodded to him as he walked past him and surprisingly he wished his teammate would succeed. It didn't matter who did the kill as long as it was one of them. On his way to the stairs he literally passed within inches of the target and for a second he toyed with the idea of cutting him down here and now. The impulse was easy to resist. Missions weren't supposed to be personal but Nami's safety and happiness did depend on the outcome.

Trudging off the field with the rest, he spotted a thin wire concealed in such a way that only someone who knew of its existence beforehand could easily spot it. Even then Saburo only breathed a slight sigh of relief. The explosive could have been deactivated and the wire left there as somebody's idea of a joke. Trudging up the stairs he was secretly glad that Yasuo would probably be the first to find out and not himself.

The small observing room was surprisingly warm and for the first time since leaving the cabin earlier that morning he couldn't see his breath. There was a bench in the back of the room but, like everyone else he took up a spot at the open window that overlooked the field. The rest of the Konoha team positioned themselves as far away as the confined space allowed. Konohamaru occasionally shot hostile glances over at him. The Yukigakure ninjas who were in their late teens took several steps back sensing the hostility. Apparently they did not want to be caught in the middle if they started to throw kunai at each other.

Ignoring them Saburo turned his full attention to the field. It had about two inches of trampled snow and it was devoid of anything else except for a small clump of trees and pool of liquid water. Neither had any business being there and must've been added to provide at least some variety to the field. However, the most important thing was the two pre-teens that faced off against each other.

Tenchi the Proctor or a referee depending how you look at it looked surprisingly dignified from here with a rabbit on his head. Raising a hand he brought it down shouting, "Begin!"

Suddenly there was an explosion of motion. Yasuo had palmed a kunai before the match had begun and now with a speed that even surprised Saburo he threw it with a flick of the wrist. He would've caught Udon if he had not already been in motion darting towards the trees.

Drawing his sword Yasuo pursued crouching low, scabbard in one hand sword in the other. Drawing three shuriken the glasses wearing genin threw them causing his opponent to stop to block them with his scabbard. By the time he recovered Udon had disappeared into the trees. Not hesitating Yasuo followed but, the moment he stepped between two trees he was forced back by a fireball that almost engulfed him.

Saburo grimaced to himself. It was obvious that his teammate was slightly faster but their target had negated that advantage by retreating into the trees. He was going to have to flush him out because going into the small wooded area was a deathtrap. Still it was obvious that the target was holding back. That was one big advantage they had. Their target didn't want to show everything off if he could avoid it while that was a handicapped they didn't have to work under.

Yasuo was slowly circling the trees looking for an opening. Pausing he reached into his pouch and withdrew three kunai with exploding notes attached. Activating them with his chakra he threw them high into the air. They came down in the middle of the trees.

Udon jumped out of the blast zone and a second later there was a triple detonation sending pieces of wood flying into the air. The Mist genin charged his sword ready to skew his target.

Saburo realized the trick a second before Yasuo did. The sword plunged through Udon's body striking nothing until it hit the ground. It was a clone with nothing more substantial than mist itself. Even as he realized that a shape detached itself from the trees.

It tackled Yasuo from behind sending him face first into the ground. His sword still buried in the hardened soil. The glasses wearing genin was on his opponents back a kunai placed at the base of his skull. If he had chosen he could have killed Yasuo right there and then easily enough.

Tenchi declared Udon the victor before there was unnecessary bloodshed and Saburo slammed his hand against the wall as the crowd roared in appreciation. It didn't help that the loudest two were only a few feet away from him.

It was obvious what had happened now. Before the explosions had gone off he had created a clone and had sent it out. Because it had just laid on the ground there was no way to tell it was a fake. Using that as a distraction he Henged into the side of a tree on the far side of the explosions. After that he had to just wait for his opponent to turn his back on him, tricky bastard.

This wasn't good. With Nami out and Yasuo just being eliminated they wouldn't get another crack at him until the finals and he would fight a Snow ninja between then and now. His frustration quickly turned to anger. He ducked into the staircase intending to intercept Yasuo. The staircase was dimly lit and the walls seemed to emanate a blue light from an unknown source. It was wide enough that two people could walk side-by-side but, as he came down the stairs he passed the target and several feet behind him was his teammate.

Grabbing him by the collar he threw him against the wall, "What the hell was that?"

"Get your hands off me," the smaller boy demanded.

Ignoring him he tightened his grip, "That was pathetic."

Pushing him away Yasuo hissed, "He out thought me okay. It's over I screwed up."

His was pissed and for a brief second Saburo wondered who he was angry at. "Well we're in real trouble now, if he gets eliminated in the next round"

"That's not going to happen. I have a plan."

If you kill another competitor especially after you've been eliminated I might get thrown out of the tournament too."

"I'm not going to kill anyone," he snapped back. "You're not the only one who cares about Nami. If we don't succeed here she only has another two years before she has to go into that program." He glanced up the stairs as the two snow ninjas began their dissent for the next match. "Just trust me okay."

Saburo did. He didn't really have a choice. If they didn't have to kill the target during the exam this would be so much easier he thought.

* * *

Moegi bit her lower lip trying to watch the match. Compared to Udon's it was boring. There had been a little weapon play in the beginning but after that it had descended into a grappling match. Neither had even attempted a jutsu yet.

"How do I look?" Udon asked from beside her.

Glancing over at him she pointed above her own eye, "You're still bleeding a little here."

He nodded and tried to apply another band-aid. According to the rules for the tournament, once you receive treatment from a Medical-ninja you were out. In addition to that they were only allowed to receive first aid that they could render themselves. She briefly wondered if she had just broken that rule but was too nervous to really care. After all she was up next.

"Finally, they tapped out." Konohamaru said as the crowd gave a less than enthusiastic round of applause.

Glancing into the arena she tried to figure out who won. The outcome really didn't matter to her but, her pride as a kunoichi had made her root for the only other female in the tournament but, unfortunately she wasn't the winner.

"Good luck Moegi," Udon said clasping her shoulder.

"Yeah go kick some butt," Konohamaru added with a grin.

She smiled to herself knowing where the loudest cheering was going to be coming from for her match. Before she could express her thanks to them a shout came from across the room.

"I'm tired of you picking apart my fight. Just shut up!" The smaller of the two Mist genin turned stomping down the stairs.

"You were always a loser," the taller of the two snapped before hopping onto the window cell and jumping down to the arena.

"Sore loser," Konohamaru muttered.

"You wouldn't be much better," Udon supplied sniffing.

"Hey, I'm not going to lose."

"They're waiting for you Moegi," Udon nudged her ignoring their friend's boast.

"Yeah," she said distractedly. Not wanting to run into the angry Mist kid she followed her opponent's example and leaped into the arena. Landing in ankle-deep snow she smiled nervously as the crowd applauded. Her entrance was a little dramatic for her taste but, part of her just wanted to get this over with.

Making her way over to the starting position she tried to tamp down her nerves while mentally going over her plan of attack. Stopping about twenty feet away from her opponent she braced herself.

"Nobody moves," Tenchi words were so unexpected that Moegi's hands were already forming seals when they registered. "Usagi watch them," the man said as the rabbit hopped off his head and positioned itself between the two genin holding its paws out as if it was trying to stop a fight. His or hers summoner ran toward the stairs.

Moegi stared after him wondering what was going on. Belatedly she wondered if this was a genjutsu but, a quick check put that worry to rest. Assuming the problem would work itself out she turned her full attention on her opponent who stood casually across from her trying not to look interested in what was going on.

Although she had fought his team several times during the second stage this was the first time she was able to get a real good look at him. He was tall and intimidating but, what she really noticed was the aura he seemed to emanate. There was no doubt in her mind that he had more than one kill under his belt.

His unblinking stare was making her nervous and she shifted her attention away and towards the audience. The arena was smaller than the one in Konoha. Not that she had ever seen a tournament held there but, like every other place in their village the three of them had explored it thoroughly. Her eyes traveled along the rows of people knowing her brother was there somewhere but, not really trying to find him.

It wasn't like his presence would comfort her. They weren't close and had only talked for a few minutes last night when he arrived all the way from Konoha. There was no doubt that he had made the journey out of family obligation than any real interest in the outcome. Hearing the crunching of snow she shifted her attention back to Tenchi who was not happy.

"Everything okay?" The genin from the Mist asked.

"Your teammate has been escorted from the arena. He attacked the winner of the last match and broke his leg. His excuse was that he had made a snide comment as they passed each other on the stairs."

"I always thought he was crazy."

His casual shrug irritated Moegi. It was too casual like he was expecting it or something. She remembered the argument the two seem to have right before the match, something didn't seem right here but she didn't know what.

"Ready," Tenchi words snapped her out of her thoughts, "begin."

Her opponent charged drawing his sword causing her to retreat. Reaching into her weapons pouch she withdrew a smoke bomb and threw it against the ground. Unfortunately smoke bombs required a hard surface to break against and the snow functioned as a cushion. Running out of space to retreat to she changed her strategy. Drawing a kunai she closed the distance.

He brought his sword down in a powerful but, easy to block overhead arc. Metal hit metal with a teeth shattering shriek. For a moment they seem to fall into a contest of strength as he continued to try to bring the sword down and she blocked it with her kunai. It was a losing battle for her but, that wasn't what she cared about. As he force the sword down, she inched the kunai foreword using his height against him and negating the extra range the weapon gave him.

The moment she was in range she lashed out kicking his extended knee. He collapsed rolling to the side. She took several steps back herself reaching for another smoke bomb. The wall was within her arms reach and she threw the device against it causing it to burst into grayish smoke. Dropping the kunai she started making hand signs hoping her timing wasn't off.

Her opponent had three options, come through the smoke which would be dumb if he thought she still had a throwing weapon in hand. He could also run up on the wall which she would prefer or he could do what he just did and come around the side of it. The genjutsu hit him perfectly causing him to fall to the ground losing his grip on the sword.

As genjutsu went it wasn't particularly elaborate. The targets vision was flipped which played hell with their sense of balance as they eyes told them one thing in their inner ear another. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. By the time she ran over and brought her knee into his nose he had already recovered.

As he fell back he tried to sweep her legs out from under her while simultaneously throwing snow in her eye. The small ice crystals stung as they came in contact with one of the most sensitive areas on her body. Blinking the snow away she saw her opponent running to the other end of the field.

No, he wasn't running away he was trying to get closer to the water. Saying something under her breath that her parents would not approve of she ran towards the center of the field. Throwing several kunai in his general direction did little to disrupt his hand signs. Her vision was still slightly off which would mean any long distance had more to do with luck than skill.

The water in the small pond shot out in a horizontal column like it had the night they had trapped them in the tunnel. Instead of heading in Moegi's direction though it smashed into the ice wall. The friction between the water and ice cut a groove out of the wall leaving a faint trail of mist in its wake.

Blinking her vision cleared she tried and failed to figure out what he was doing. He went into another series of signs and the mist started to thicken. Moegi bit her lip as she tried to put her back against the wall to decrease the angles he could attack from.

The Hidden Mist Technique she recognized it from one of Naruto's stories. For a moment she gave serious consideration to forfeiting here and now but, her pride wouldn't allow it. The orange haired kunoichi racked her brain for anything she could use. What had Naruto done? Oh yeah that was right a giant sword had almost cut him in half.

Straining her ears for the sound of crunching snow she peered into the mist. A shadowy figure appeared in the mist and she almost threw one of her remaining kunai but, froze at the last second. It might be a clone, after all the jutsu worked both ways. If she couldn't see him then he couldn't see her. However, if she threw a weapon he could pin point her from that.

Carefully she inched along her heels dragging against the ice wall. He couldn't be far. He would have to be able to see the weapon passed through the clone and judge the angle of attack to pinpoint her location.

The sword pierced the mist like an assassin's blade unseen and silent. Moegi had no warning as the weapon pierced her thigh pinning her to the wall. The pain was like nothing she had known before. A scream caught in her throat as the mist started to lift. The figure of death rush towards her in the form of a genin kunai raised in his hand prepared to slash her throat.

Her savior came in the form of a white furry ball that landed on her shoulder. Metal struck metal as the blade stopped bare inches from her neck. She started to cry.

"You won. No need for killing." Tenchi voice sounded distant to her as the next few minutes seem to blur. She remembered the pain and the not wholly unfamiliar sense of healing chakra. At some point she was put on a stretcher but, beyond that there was just darkness.

* * *

Authors note: this was going to be the last chapter but clearly it's not. While some authors can get away with a suddenly super long chapter I don't think am one of them. So, the other half will be posted by the end of the week and then the epilogue. I'm a jerk aren't I?


	8. The Finals End

Konohamaru watched Moegi's match intensely. He cheered every time she gained the upper hand and winced in sympathy at every reversal. However, it wasn't until the mist spread across the arena that he really started to get worried. Naruto had told him about that technique, it was used by assassins. When it started to lift and he saw her pinned to the wall like a butterfly on display he had to be held back from jumping into the arena.

Until that day Konohamaru had never really wanted to kill anyone but, that Mist genin had made his list. Focusing his anger into his first match made it a quick one. Three clones and some wire resulted in his opponent being quickly hog tied. With Udon now having a pass into the finals he should have gone directly into his next match. Unfortunately, the officials had declared a fifteen minute intermission to allow him to recover from the previous match even though he didn't want it.

With nothing else to do he paced in the small tunnel that connected the arena to the outside. Frustrated Konohamaru smashed his fist into the wall which didn't even have the decency to crack. Udon grabbed his hand before he could take out more of his anger on the inanimate object.

"You're going to hurt yourself."

Pulling away from his teammate he rounded on him, "Why are you so dam calm?"

His friend sighed and shifted his weight nervously, "They said she would be fine."

Konohamaru looked away embarrassed. This wasn't the first time Moegi had been hurt but, it was the first time he couldn't do anything to help. "I just want to _see_ she's okay," he added sheepishly.

"Yeah, well beat this guy and then forfeit to me and we can be on our way," Udon smiled.

"Forfeit to you," despite the situation Konohamaru smiled, "that's the only way you would ever win."

Udon tilted his head and smiled. His glasses caught the light in such a way that they hid his eyes giving him a sinister appearance. "I have a few surprises in store for you." As quickly as it appeared his expression changed back to normal and Konohamaru assumed it had only been a joke. "So what's your plan?"

"Plan," Konohamaru frowned at his bespectacled friend. "I am going to kick his ass," really wasn't it obvious. The brunette shook his head and he sighed, "all right what are your ideas." Sometimes he wished his friend would just speak up without being prompted.

"Try to get his sword away from him and if you can throw it out of the arena. If he uses the Hidden Mist Technique again climb the wall. The mist tapers off after about eight feet so try to stay above it. The longer he holds it the more chakra it will eat up."

The grandson of the third Hokage inclined his head in thought. He rarely thought of fights before they happened. After all they're probably wouldn't be too many times he could sit down and take the time to think up a plan of attack. Besides that was more of an Udon thing. Still, he thought about what Udon had said and after a minute he took out a shuriken and looped some wire through the hole.

"It's time," Tenchi called from the entryway.

"See you in the finals," Udon said turning to go back up to the stairs.

"Yeah," Konohamaru was halfway to the starting spot when he realized what his friend had done. He had distracted him which had calmed him down. Udon was a good friend he thought to himself.

* * *

Saburo rolled his shoulders attempting to relieve some of his tension. The mission had more or less fallen to him. He mentally cursed that stipulation that the job had to be done within the context of the tournament. Turning his mind to a more productive activity he mentally listed what he knew about his next opponent.

The only thing that jumped out at him was that he could use real shadow clones and judging by his last match quite effectively. Saburo couldn't even use the Water Clone Technique yet and that was lower ranked. Judging an opponent by the level of jutsu was a standard technique but, in this case it seemed a little off. His opponent's one advanced skill didn't seem to balance out with the rest of his abilities. The only possible answer was that a parent or sibling had taught it to him but, in the end it didn't matter. This kid was only a steppingstone to the target.

The Proctor gestured for him to come down and he hopped out of the now empty waiting room into the arena. Upon landing he was able to check the condition of an exploding note and without actually exploding one confirmed that they were intact.

Affecting a deliberately casual air he walked slowly to the arena's center. Considering what he had done to his opponent's teammate in the last round he was probably angry and angry people make mistakes. If it wasn't for that damn fur ball interfering his opponent would be furious. It was a dangerous gambit but Saburo was confident that he could pull it off. Facing off against his opponent he smiled. The dark-haired boys face twitched and he felt a small sense of satisfaction. His psychological warfare sensei would've been proud of him.

The match began with the smaller of the two charging him with surprising speed. They exchanged several blows but neither of them connected solidly. Konohamaru attempted a roundhouse kick but slipped on the snow. Saburo went for his throat but it had been a feint and the boy came up with a kunai. He grabbed the smaller genin's wrist stopping it only an inch from his stomach. For a moment the two stayed like that both of their hands pushing the kunai a few centimeters in either direction.

Saburo threw his leg behind his opponent's knee and shifted his weight into him attempting to throw him. Konohamaru's lower center of mass allowed him to easily counter and for a second they appeared to dance with each countering the others move.

After the fourth reversal the taller of the two risked letting one of his hands go and backhanded the boy across the face. The kakute cut deep into Konohamaru's cheek and he spun away droplets of blood staining the snow. Finally he had enough space and time to draw his sword.

* * *

Konohamaru wiped the back of his hand across his cheek. It came away bloody and his cheek felt like it was on fire. His opponent drew his sword and despite everything he smirked grabbing for a shuriken in his pouch. His calloused ring finger linked through the hole on his weapon and he felt the wire. He threw it high and at an angle that it didn't even have to be dodged.

The wire unnoticed continued to play out until it ran out. Becoming taut it tried to pull itself straight. It came in contact with the sword forcing it to wrap around the sword several times. Throwing his kunai he caused Saburo to dodge which pulled the wire tight. Konohamaru threw his entire weight into pulling on the wire. The sword pulled free of its owner's hands flying over him and down the tunnel. The surprised look on the taller genin face was priceless.

Summoning a clone Konohamaru sent it in as a distraction as he started an unusually long series of hand signs. His doppelganger was destroyed quickly but, it had served its purpose in delaying his opponent. Saburo charged him and he retreated loosening his scarf before letting it drift slowly to the ground.

The scarf now infused with his chakra came in contact with his opponents arm and stuck to him like a fly trap. Before the taller genin could stop it touched his legs tripping him up. Konohamaru stopped in his retreat enjoying the site for a second. The more the genin struggled the more he became entangled.

Quickly reaching for a kunai Konohamaru wrapped an exploding note around it. A last moment pain of consciousness made him aim a foot in front of his struggling opponent. He liked that scarf and it was a shame to lose it but, he had a dozen like it at home.

The kunai exploded vaporizing snow in a blast of heat and sending dirt into the air. When the smoke cleared he cursed to himself. The only thing that was left was a burning branch. Body replacement he thought as he heard an incoming kunai. Dodging to his right he almost went straight into another. Retreating backwards he dodged one flying projectile after another until his back was almost against the wall.

The Mist genin suddenly dove to the ground and before Konohamaru could understand what was going on the ground exploded. The heat burned him as he was bodily flung to the side dirt pelting his skin. Climbing to his feet his vision was shaky and he could only hear ringing in his ears. Then the mist started to enclose around him.

* * *

Saburo was beyond annoyed. That glue jutsu had been idiotically simple to avoid and yet he had fallen for it. He wanted revenge. The term target fixation echoed through his mind and he could almost hear his sensei's rebuke. Still, this might work out for him. He had replaced himself with a fallen branch from the first match and now had his opponents back turned to him.

The first kunai he threw missed when his opponent dodged at the last second. He threw a second and third in quick succession. The Konoha genin didn't know it, but he was being steered right into a trap.

Saburo had really not wanted to use the hidden explosives until he was fighting the target but, the longer this match went on the harder that match was going to be. Diving to the ground he grabbed for a concealed wire. Channeling chakra into it he set off the exploding note on the other end. It would've been nice if the brat had been standing right on top of it but he had been a few feet away, which was good enough.

Reaching for a kunai he stopped realizing he was down to one. He still had several shuriken but they wouldn't have the necessary penetration he needed. Mentally berating himself about his lack of variety in jutsu he relied on the Hidden Mist Technique again the recently vaporized water making it easier to create.

Grasping the kunai intending to use it as a plain knife he leaped forward trying to make as little noise as possible as he landed on the snow. Approaching the wall he peered into the mist looking for a shadow to attack but, he didn't find it. Where could he have gone?

Then he noticed a shadow. It wasn't that of somebody standing in the arena but instead it was that of somebody backlit by the sun. The bastard had climbed the wall. With a small amount of chakra being eaten up every second he held the technique he tore a page from the first match of the day.

* * *

Konohamaru was barely holding on to the wall with his chakra. His mind was still fuzzy but, at least the ringing in his head had gone. Briefly he tried to remember if standing on the rim of the arena was allowed because right now he would only be able to hold on for another minute or so.

Without warning three shuriken suddenly burst out of the mist below. Bringing a kunai up to block he unexpectedly slid several feet down the wall almost plunging into the mist. The shuriken smacked harmlessly against the wall above him embedding themselves deep into the ice.

As quickly as the mist had emerged it started to dissipate and his eyes searched the arena for his opponent but, he didn't find him. That made no sense where could he have gone? Dropping to the ground before he fell he heard something behind him. Spinning around his kunai leading the way he was surprised as his opponent was as the knife slipped high and through his ribs. The unexpected collision sent both of them sprawling. Konohamaru quickly rolled to his feet but, Saburo did not.

* * *

Consciousness returned to Moegi in a series of rapid stages. Air that had the faint tinge of antiseptic filled her lungs. Sound came next or the lack thereof. Then she noticed the lack of feeling in her legs and panic washed over her. The instinctive fear of spinal cord injuries which was shared by everyone in her career came to the forefront of her mind.

Opening her eyes she struggled to focus her blurry vision into a coherent image. The nearest blob resolved itself into a familiar figure causing her to frown, "What are you doing here?" She forced the words through a parched throat.

"I'm your brother where else would I be?" He answered leaning forward.

"My legs I can't feel them?"

"You're fine," he answered abruptly. "They just had to numb you. That sword nicked your profunda femoris artery. They stopped the bleeding pretty quickly and on a related note you and I are the same blood type." He straightened his arm showing a large band-aid.

She twitched her fingers they felt like they were half-asleep as if she had layed on them wrong. Then she remembered, "The tournament!"

"It's over." He didn't say anything more until she mustered up the strength to glare at him. "I didn't see it but the medic-nins gave me updates. Your teammate the one with the scarf won his first match and his second. I'm told that one was quite exciting and after that won the finals was a letdown."

"What do you mean?" She tried to swallow and her brother leaned over to the table beside her and picked up a small bowl which had ice chips in it. He held out a spoonful and she reluctantly took it placing the chips under her tongue.

"Well apparently from what I was told," he trailed off for dramatic effect which only made her glare. "When the match started they just sort of stared at each other for a while. Then the one with the perpetually running nose raised his hand and surrendered."

That didn't make sense she thought. Udon should've had a good chance of defeating Konohamaru why would he give up without a fight? Even if he didn't think he could win he should've at least tried for the promotion if nothing else. Cold reality washed over her as she realized she probably didn't have a chance of being promoted.

That thought was depressing and she didn't feel like talking anymore. Her brother just sat there with his arms crossed and the silence between them grew uncomfortable but, she really couldn't think of anything to say to him.

He suddenly looked away and said, "You have a visitor." She followed his gaze to the door where Konohamaru stood. "I'm going to go for a walk," he added getting up. As he walked past her teammate he paused and put a hand on his shoulder. "Remember just because you're in the hospital doesn't mean you can play doctor so, I don't want you trying anything nasty with my sister while I'm gone."

"Jerk!" Her shout made Konohamaru and her wince as her brother walked out of the room. She smiled apologizing, "Sorry about him."

"He's always a jerk," her de facto team leader said collapsing into the vacated chair and tried to smile at her but, the large band aid turned it into more of a smirk.

"You look like you fought a crazed gardener," she commented. He had several other smaller band-aids on his face in addition to the large one and she noticed his eyes seemed a little glazed like he was having trouble focusing on anything.

"Yeah but I beat him," The joke was bad and neither of them laughed. "You still look nice."

She blushed a deep shade of crimson at the compliment and quickly tried to change the subject. "Where is Udon?"

Her friend's face darkened with anger, "Hiding if he knows what's good for him. He still owes me a match."

Moegi was starting to suspect why Udon had forfeited, "Konohamaru are you okay?"

"Yeah of course," he smirked again and gestured toward her leg. "I guess you won't be able to help Udon move, hum."

She had almost forgotten about that. Udon was supposed to move in with Konohamaru on their return to Konoha. "I've been thinking about that, do you really think it's going to work? I mean your parents and all."

The third's grandson waved her argument away. "If I have to I'll explain everything to them I'm sure they'll understand. We can't let him stay with that woman if there's something we can do about it. He's my friend after all even if I have to deck him the next time I see him."

She laughed at Konohamaru's abrupt change from angry to protective to angry again.

He leaned forward resting his elbows on the bed and swayed a little as he rested his head in his hands. Their eyes met and she felt a little uncomfortable under his glassy stare. "I was really worried."

"Konohamaru do you have a concussion?"

"That's what they tell me." He paused for a second and continued, "So you want to go out?"

Moegi had been kind of hoping for this but she had never thought that Konohamaru would be a little out of it when he asked. "Why don't you ask me tomorrow?"

"No, answer," he demanded.

"Fine, we'll go out when we get back to Konoha."

Konohamaru leaned in closer and pressed his lips against hers. As kisses went it was pretty bad. She was still mostly numb and he wasn't all there. Still for a first kiss it could have been worse she thought. Hopefully it wouldn't be their last.

* * *

Author's note: I had this already to go then I decided to rewrite the fight seen. I was going to upload the epilogue with this but last time I did that I got yelled at.


	9. Epilogue

Moegi trailed after her two teammates her crutch slowing her down. Well, she supposed one was her teammate and the other was her boyfriend. They had been back in Konoha for two days and they still hadn't gone on a date but, they still both agreed that it was a good idea. Besides they still had the Udon situation to deal with and that took priority.

She glanced at her friend who had been in her thoughts more than usual in the past month. He had quietly agreed to move out as long as his mother didn't get in trouble. He told his mother yesterday and from what she had heard there hadn't been a reaction. Still, he looked nervous and uncomfortable in his new chunin vest. His shoulders were hunched as if he was trying to hide himself.

His promotion still surprised her. According to the explanation he had been given, by outmaneuvering his first opponent he had distinguished himself from the other matches. The fact that he had forfeited his second and only other match had resulted in two opinions among the judges.

The first group was impressed that he could tell that his opponent had a concussion but, didn't approve of him not continuing to fight. The other and larger group was also impressed by his observation skills. They acknowledged that they were from the same village and it would've been to the detriment to their home to continue and risk further injury. By forfeiting Udon had showed he could set priorities.

They came to a stop and Udon put down the empty boxes he was carrying to take out a snake pick. Moegi watched the twisted piece of metal go into the lock and heard it click open. "You don't have a key?" She couldn't conceal her surprise.

"I lost it a little while ago and never got around to asking for a new one," Udon answered opening the door.

Moegi had tried to picture the inside of Udon's apartment and it had been a dark place. That was the only thing she could clearly remember from her first and only visit. Now it was bright and clean. It was disturbing because it wasn't disturbing. The trio entered quietly not saying a word which was rare considering Konohamaru was with them.

Entering Udon's room it seemed different to her than the rest of the apartment. The bed was unmade although he hadn't slept in it since before the exam and the wastepaper basket was overflowing with crumpled papers and tissues. There were two posters on the wall, one of the periodic table of all things and one of the actor turned ruler of Snow country. Despite the situations she smiled wondering if her friend had a crush on her.

"Is there anything you don't want?" Konohamaru questioned dropping his boxes on the floor.

"Just leave the furniture," Udon replied starting to take down the posters.

Konohamaru attacked the desk dumping the drawer's contents into boxes until Udon shouted at him to be more careful. She attacked the bookshelves which seem to contain a little from every genre. There was more stuff than they expected.

"We're going to have to make more than one trip," their leader in spirit if not in rank said.

Udon agreed with a nod and picked up a box.

"I'll stay here and finish packing." Her leg was starting to act up but, she didn't want to say anything because they could both be overprotective sometimes.

"Umm," Konohamaru glanced at his friend and asked, "she's not going to be home till late?" Udon nodded. "Alright we'll be right back."

The two left and she repositioned her leg to a more comfortable position. She just finished the last shelf when she had the sensation of being watched. Glancing over her shoulder she froze at the sight of a woman leaning against the doorframe.

She was tall with brown shoulder length hair and an ordinary face. It seemed that Udon got his nose and mouth from his mother. Although the former wasn't running like his always seem too.

"Hey," she spoke her voice soft which was different from the last time she'd heard it.

"Udon said you were working," Moegi supplied in way of explanation.

"I came home for lunch." The woman's reply lacked any emotion.

"I'm helping him pack." She mentally kicked herself for stating the obvious.

"I can see that." The older woman reached behind herself and tossed her a book. "Here he will like that."

Moegi read the characters on the worn book that said Pocket Ref. Picking it up, she glanced at the glossary. It covered everything from geometry formulas to how to treat a chest wound. "Is this his?"

"No, it's a gift."

The young kunoichi tried to reconcile this image with the woman she knew beat her son but the two just wouldn't mash. Using the bookshelf to help her stand she eyed the older woman like she was a new type of trap she had never seen before. Part of her knew she should leave it alone but, she was also curious. "Why?"

"Why?" The woman echoed.

Moegi wasn't quite sure what happened next. All she knew was that the woman moved with speed that no civilian should possess. One moment she was standing and the next she was on the bed her cheek brushing up against the bare mattress. Her arm was twisted behind her and one of her own kunai was at her throat.

"I'm going to let you in on a secret," the woman hissed inches from her ear. "No matter how well you **think** you knowhim you never will. He was born to be a killer and he will turn on you one day. It's in his **blood **just like his father. The best thing you could do is walk away because even if you hate him you will still love him."

As quickly as the weight appeared she was free to move again but, the woman wasn't even in the room anymore. Three things occurred to Moegi at once. First Udon's mother had definitely received some training somewhere. The second thing was she was insane and the third she was a liar. Udon was not a killer that was simply a fact. That comment about blood though stuck in her mind. Was that just crazy rambling?

A few minutes later she was still trying to figure out what was going on when she heard her teammates come down the hall. On the spur of the moment she pocketed the black book wanting to give it to Udon when Konohamaru wasn't around.

"Did you pack everything else?" Konohamaru asked bouncing into the room.

She smiled apparently something had improved his mood at least. "Yeah I think so."

"Great. We ran into Naruto on our way back here. He and Sakura just got back from a mission and they said they would treat us to ramen if we tell him how the exam went." Konohamaru picked up one of the boxes clearly excited at the prospect of telling a story for once.

Moegi glanced at Udon who seemed less enthusiastic. "Why don't you go on ahead we'll be right behind you." Konohamaru needed no prompting and was out the door almost before she vanished. Turning to Udon she asked, "You want a few?"

He nodded and she went to wait in the hall for him. Despite everything this must still be his home and she was just realizing that the situation was more complicated than she might've thought at first. That's still didn't make any of it right but, she could give him a few minutes. When he joined her she tossed the book into the box. "I ran in to your mom while you were gone. She wanted you to have that."

He paused and shifted the box so he could pick up the book. After looking at it he said, "She wasn't always mean but, she was getting worse."

"I'm sorry," she squeezed his shoulder in sympathy. She had intended to ask him about what he knew about his mother but it wasn't the right time or place.

"Come on, we have to catch up with Konohamaru before he takes credit for passing the first stage of the exam," Udon said hurrying out the door as she followed.

* * *

"Should we bring flowers or something?" Yasuo asked his female teammate.

Nami glanced over at him shaking her head, "It would be a waste." She took several steps before adding, "Thanks for coming I know how you two are."

"I have nothing against him," the smaller of the two added.

"Please, you give as well as you get." She sighed turning into the building, "I hate hospitals."

By all rights Saburo should be dead. His lung had been pierced and he lost a lot of blood. If he had not been in the middle of an arena with a medical team standing by for such an emergency he would certainly be with his ancestors now. To those particularly talented medical-nin Nami would be eternally grateful and as for the ninja who had put him here. Well, it would be best for him if they never met again.

Turning into the last room down the hallway she put on a fake smile, "You still laid up?"

Saburo returned her smile but it faltered when he saw who was with her. Fortunately, the situation didn't deteriorate as their sensei chose that moment to step out of the shadows where she had remained unnoticed by the two new arrivals.

"You're all here. Now shut up and listen. The Mizukage reviewed your failed graduation mission. He believes that I may have overestimated your abilities when I nominated you for the mission. As a result of my error the restrictions you had to work under were excessive. Given the extraordinary circumstances he has decided to waive the one-year moratorium on your next graduation attempt. In three months you'll be given a new mission with a new target." With that she turned on her heel and left the room.

Silence descended on the group until Saburo broken it, "What just happened?"

"I think somebody just pulled some strings," Yasuo answered.

Nami said nothing as comprehension slowly dawned on her. Her reaction was the most enthusiastic. She hugged Saburo who was still lying in the bed as she shouted "Yes."

"Nami stitches," Saburo gasped through clenched teeth. Through the pain though he was smiling too.

* * *

Authors note: Well that's the end. Thanks to all those who read and reviewed and yes this wasn't the original ending.


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